Pope Francis accepts resignation of Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Tiedemann

Boston, Mass., Jun 30, 2023 / 09:54 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Neil Tiedemann, who recently turned 75, the mandatory age for bishops to submit a letter offering to step down from their ecclesiastical office.

Tiedemann served as auxiliary bishop in the diocese since 2016, after he was appointed to the position by Pope Benedict XVI.

“I am grateful for Bishop Tiedemann’s many years of dedicated service here in Brooklyn and Queens,” Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement released by the diocese on Friday.

“Bishop Tiedemann has had extraordinary experience beyond the boundaries of our diocese and therefore was able to enrich us with his knowledge, passion, and dedication to the Church and its people,” he said.

Prior to his service in Brooklyn, Tiedemann was the bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica — a position to which Pope Benedict XVI also appointed him. Tiedmann held that office for eight years.

A member of the Passionists, Tiedemann was ordained to the priesthood on May 16, 1975, in the Brooklyn Diocese.

He served as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in Jamaica, Queens, for his first assignment from 1975–1982. He also served at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Union City, New Jersey, and Blessed Sacrament in Springfield, Massachusetts, both parishes with large Hispanic presences.

During his time ministering in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tiedemann helped establish an AIDS hospice called Casa Pasionista.

From 1998–2005 he served at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, where both his grandparents and great grandparents were married.

Tiedemann was elected to the provincial council of the Passionists in 2006.

In the statement from the diocese on Friday, Tiedemann said: “Throughout my priesthood, I have been blessed, and I am so grateful.”

“I thank Bishops [Nicholas] DiMarzio and [Robert] Brennan for their kindness, support, and encouragement,” he said.

“Of my 48 years as a priest, I have spent 21 here in the Brooklyn Diocese. I am thankful to my brother priests for their friendship. Most importantly, I have been blessed by the wonderful people of our diocese,” he said.

“They make you the priest that you are because they encourage and strengthen you. They teach you so much about life and actually become the face of God in your life,” he said.