Pope Francis announced on Dec. 1, 2020, that he has appointed Washington Auxiliary Bishop Michael William Fisher as the new bishop of Buffalo, New York. Since June 2018, Bishop Fisher has served as an auxiliary bishop of Washington, assisting the archbishop of Washington in serving the 655,000 Catholics living in the Archdiocese of Washington, which includes the nation’s capital and the five surrounding Maryland counties.
The announcement of Pope Francis’s appointment of Bishop Fisher to Buffalo was made by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States.
In a statement, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, praised the appointment, saying, “Today the Archdiocese of Washington is privileged to share a generous gift with the Diocese of Buffalo with Pope Francis’ appointment of Michael William Fisher to become the 15th shepherd of that local church. Bishop Fisher is an exceptionally compassionate and skilled servant of the Church. His distinguished history as pastor, Vicar for Priests, and member of our Pastoral Administration have prepared him well for his new responsibilities in that diocese. While we will miss his deft pastoral talents, they will be warmly welcomed by the faithful, religious, and clergy of the Diocese of Buffalo. May the Lord bring joy to his heart and to the hearts of the people who will welcome him.”
In response to his new appointment, Bishop Fisher said, “I am deeply humbled and grateful to the Holy Father for this gift to serve the people of Buffalo as their bishop. I am eager to become part of this vibrant faith community, with a proud and distinguished legacy of Catholic education, ministry and civic service.”
Bishop Fisher’s installation as the bishop of Buffalo will take place on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021 at 2 p.m. in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Buffalo. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, will preside.
Bishop Fisher, 62, is a native of Baltimore. After studying at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, he was ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington in 1990 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle by Cardinal James Hickey, then the archbishop of Washington. He was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, then the archbishop of Washington, on June 29, 2019 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Michael Fisher blesses a baby during Communion at a July 2018 Mass at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland. (CS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
In an earlier interview, Bishop Fisher – who celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest in 2015 – said that he tries to bring “the heart of a pastor” into his administrative work, based on his years of experiences as a parish priest. Beginning in 2006, Bishop Fisher served as the Vicar for Clergy and Secretary for Ministerial Leadership for the archdiocese, overseeing the recruitment, formation and care of its clergy. Upon the appointment of Archbishop Wilton Gregory (now Cardinal Gregory) in 2019, Bishop Fisher maintained his responsibilities as Secretary for Ministerial Leadership.
Like his home diocese, the Archdiocese of Washington, which was impacted in a personal way by the abuse and misconduct scandal of its now defrocked former cardinal archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Bishop Fisher’s new Diocese of Buffalo has been heavily impacted by the abuse crisis. In December 2019, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Buffalo’s previous bishop, Bishop Richard J. Malone, who said in a letter to the people of that diocese that he hoped a new bishop would be able to bring “reconciliation, healing and renewal” in addressing the abuse crisis. At that time, Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, New York, was appointed by Pope Francis to serve as Buffalo’s apostolic administrator. Bishop Malone had led the Diocese of Buffalo from 2012 to 2019.
In February 2020, the Diocese of Buffalo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, after it faced about 260 lawsuits filed under New York’s Child Victims Act, which suspended the statute of limitations for abuse claims for one year beginning in August 2019. The diocese had reported a $5 million loss for fiscal year 2019, which it attributed to consequences of the abuse scandal. Since the Child Victims Act was put into effect in New York, the Diocese of Syracuse and the Diocese of Rochester have also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
On Nov. 23, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop Malone and former Buffalo Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz, alleging that the diocese covered up and failed to deal with numerous case of sexual abuse by priests.
The eight-county Buffalo Diocese covers 6,500 square miles in Western New York and is home to approximately 571,000 Catholics. It has 161 parishes, 49 Catholic schools, more than 360 priests, 546 women religious and 129 permanent deacons.
In response to Bishop Fisher’s appointment to Buffalo, Bishop Scharfenberger said in a statement that “This is a blessed and wonderful day for the good people across Western New York. In Bishop Michael Fisher, they have been given a priest, pastor and bishop whose passion to serve, to listen, to heal and comfort have distinguished his 30-year ministry. It has been among my life’s great joys to get to know and assist this faith-filled community, to accompany them in their initial steps on the path toward renewal and redefine the enormous potential of the Church to accomplish so much good across this region. I pledge my fraternal support to Bishop Fisher and my abiding love and care for the family of faith of this diocese now and in all the days ahead.”
In his statement, Bishop Fisher expressed thanks to Bishop Scharfenberger “for the generosity of his spirit and his selfless devotion to serving as apostolic administrator during this interim period and while also leading the Diocese of Albany. Though the challenges that currently confront the Diocese of Buffalo are many and significant, they are not equal to the resolve of so many committed lay women and men, devoted priests, deacons and religious across Western New York, who are no less determined to reveal God’s transformative love that has the power to bind every wound, renew and make us whole. We would do well to recall the promise in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: ‘No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.’”
Bishop Fisher greets a family after celebrating a Mass in July 2018 at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Hyattsville, where he lived for many years while serving as an archdiocesan administrator. (CS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
On the day when Pope Francis named him as an auxiliary bishop for Washington in June 2018, Bishop-elect Fisher said then that his goal as a bishop would be “what the Holy Father tells us, to be there for people” and accompany them. “For me, it’s walking with them, showing kindness. They just want to know their pastor cares,” he added.
Bishop Fisher underscored that point in his statement upon becoming Buffalo’s bishop, saying, “At my core I am a parish priest and pastor. All I ever wanted to be when finally discerning and accepting the call to ministry was to serve a parish family, to walk with its members and accompany them on their own journey toward holiness; to share in their joys, their heartaches and to have some part to play in revealing the incomparable love and grace of God as they experience life’s defining moments.”
Following Bishop Fisher’s ordination to the priesthood, he served in three Maryland parishes, first as a parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Parish in La Plata. Then-Father Fisher served as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Hillcrest Heights from 1995-99, and as pastor of St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg from 1999 to 2005. That year, he was among 10 priests of the archdiocese named as monsignors by Pope St. John Paul II in one of the pontiff’s last official acts before his death.
Also in 2005, then-Msgr. Fisher was named as the archdiocese’s Vicar General for the Apostolates, helping to oversee education, ethnic ministries, justice and service, parish life and youth ministry. The next year, then-Archbishop Donald Wuerl appointed him as Vicar for Clergy and Secretary for Ministerial Leadership for the archdiocese.
After Bishop Fisher was named an auxiliary bishop for Washington, one of his former parishioners, MaryLu Hartsell, the director of music and liturgy at St. John Neumann Parish, said, “I know that at heart he is a pastor… If people needed him, he was there for them.” She added, “He has been that way with his priests since he has gone to work at the Pastoral Center… He is always there for his priests and his people.”
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Michael Fisher celebrates Mass in August 2018, at the installation of Father Scott Holmer (at left) as pastor of St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Bowie, Maryland. (Catholic Standard photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
As a youth, Michael Fisher played Little League baseball, and wrestled, and was active in the Boy Scouts, where he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. One of his first jobs was as an 8-year-old paperboy for The Baltimore Sun. He attended high school at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. After earning a degree in business administration and accounting at the University of Maryland in 1984, he worked as a comptroller for a psychiatric practice in Bethesda.
Buffalo’s new bishop – who is the eldest of five children of the late Margo and William Fisher – attributes much of his call to the priesthood to the love and sacrifices of his parents and family, the constant prayers of a grandmother, the encouragement and example of priests, and a lifelong desire to serve and leave this world a better place.
Bishop Fisher has a special interest in Church history, and as a seminarian, he earned Mount St. Mary’s History Award. In his spare time, he likes to read and study history, especially American and Church history, and he enjoys camping and hiking in the mountains and touring historical sites.
In an earlier interview, Bishop Fisher praised the diversity of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland, where he lived for many years while he served as an archdiocesan administrator, noting it “has something like 47 different cultures and ethnic groups.” He added, “Diversity is a blessing, because it enriches the faith.”
Before he was ordained to the priesthood 30 years ago, then-Deacon Fisher said, “I’ll go where the Holy Spirit leads me.”
In addition to his work as a parish priest, Bishop Fisher has served the clergy of the archdiocese as a member of the Priest Council, the Priest Retirement Board, as chairman of the Clergy Personnel Board, on the Priestly Vocations Board and the Permanent Diaconate Vocations Board, and as a member of the Deacons Council and of the Formation Board and the Continuing Formation Board. Much of his ministry has involved the continuing education of priests, particularly in aiding new pastors in their roles and the planning and implementation of ongoing clergy training via convocations and retreats.
For his three decades as a priest and then as a bishop, Bishop Fisher has begun the new year in a special way, not with fireworks, but in prayer, celebrating a Mass for his friends the cloistered nuns at the Port Tobacco Carmelite Monastery in Southern Maryland. Just as the clock strikes midnight, he lifts the Eucharist and says the words of consecration.
Before he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington in June 2018, Bishop-elect Michael Fisher went on retreat at the Port Tobacco Carmelite Monastery in Southern Maryland and celebrated Mass for his friends, the cloistered nuns there. In this photo, he visits with Mother Virginia Marie and Sister Marie Bernardina Penland of the Carmelite community at Port Tobacco. (Catholic Standard photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
In an interview, Bishop Fisher said of his vocation, “I love being a priest.”
