Daniel Nicholas DiNardo (born May 23, 1949) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the second and current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas, serving since 2006. He previously served as coadjutor bishop and bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City in Iowa from 1997 to 2004.
Daniel DiNardo was born on May 23, 1949, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Nicholas and Jane (née Green) DiNardo.[3] One of four children, he has an older brother, Thomas; a twin sister, Margaret; and a younger sister, Mary Anne. The family later moved to Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania.[3] As a child, DiNardo would pretend to celebrate mass in vestments sewn by his mother and at an altar his father constructed.[4]
DiNardo attended St. Anne Elementary School in Castle Shannon from 1955 to 1963, and graduated from the Jesuit Bishop's Latin School in 1967.[5] He then entered St. Paul Seminary at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[5][4] In 1969, DiNardo was accepted as a Basselin Scholar in philosophy at the Theological College at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1971 and a Master of Philosophy degree in 1972.[3][6]
DiNardo was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop Leonard on July 16, 1977.[3] After his ordination, the diocese assigned him as parochialvicar at St. Pius X Parish in Brookline, Pennsylvania.[5][7] In 1981, Leonard named DiNardo as named assistant chancellor of the diocese and part-time professor at St. Paul Seminary.[6] While at St. Paul, he served as spiritual director to the seminarians.[5]
Upon his return to Pittsburgh in 1991, DiNardo was named assistant secretary for education for the diocese and concurrently served as co-pastor at Madonna del Castello Parish in Swissvale, Pennsylvania.[5] He became the founding pastor of Saints John & Paul Parish in Franklin Park, Pennsylvania, in 1994.[4]
DiNardo succeeded Soens as the sixth bishop of Sioux City upon the latter's resignation on November 28, 1998.
Coadjutor archbishop and archbishop of Galveston-Houston
DiNardo was later named coadjutor bishop of Galveston-Houston, by John Paul II on January 16, 2004. The diocese was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese by John Paul II on December 29, 2004, and he thus became coadjutor archbishop.
When Pope Benedict XVI accepted the retirement of Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, DiNardo succeeded him as the second archbishop of Galveston-Houston on February 28, 2006. He received the pallium, a vestment worn by metropolitan bishops, from Benedict XVI on June 29th of that year. DiNardo once commented, "There is a certain sense of the church in Texas...It is more laid-back, informal, which I think is good."[4]
DiNardo is a board member of the National Catholic Partnership for Persons with Disabilities. He is also a board member of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., an advisor to the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People and a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism for the USCCB DiNardo is the grand prior of the South West Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a papal order of knighthood, in which he holds the rank of knight grand cross.
In November 2014, at the USCCB fall meeting, DiNardo was elected as a delegate to the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family, pending Vatican approval.[11]
DiNardo promised to release a list of archdiocesan priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors in January 2019. In November, CBS News spoke to 20 people who claim to have knowledge of incidents of misconduct, and none of them had been contacted.[12] On January 30, 2019, DiNardo released a list of names of 40 priests from the archdiocese with credible allegations of sexual misconduct over the previous 70 years.[13] One name on the list was John Keller. DiNardo was criticized for allowing Keller to offer mass publicly at his parish the morning after the list was released.[14]
Personal
DiNardo wears hearing aids because calcium deposits in his ears have impaired his hearing. Despite his hearing difficulties, he still prefers to sing or chant parts of the Mass, especially the Lord's prayer.[4] DiNardo suffered a stroke in March 2019.[15]
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