Pope Appoints Encino Priest as Auxiliary Bishop

Pope John Paul II has named Msgr. Gerald Wilkerson, an Encino priest, as a new bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The papal appointment announced Wednesday by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony fills an opening that has been vacant for more than a year and brings to five the number of auxiliary bishops in the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.

Wilkerson, 59, will oversee the archdiocese’s San Fernando pastoral region, which stretches from Palmdale to Woodland Hills to Highland Park. Like all auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese, Wilkerson will report to Mahony. He will be ordained in January.

In his inaugural news conference as a bishop-elect, Wilkerson spoke of the “joyful call” to the priesthood and poked fun at himself by saying he was first shocked and then terrified when he was told he was to be made a bishop.

In fact, he said he only slept three hours the night the word came from Rome a week ago and has not had a good night’s sleep since. He telephoned his parents in Long Beach to tell them the news Wednesday.

“I’ve faced the struggles and trials and tribulations that anyone who is human faces in this world,” Wilkerson told reporters as Mahony stood by his side. “But still I would never leave my call. It’s given purpose and meaning to my life. My priesthood has been the joy of my life.”

His only regret, he said, was that as a bishop he would lose the privilege of being invited by parishioners to share the ups and downs of their lives on a daily basis.

At a time when the church is dealing with a shortage of priests as well as other issues, Wilkerson said he has no illusions about the hardships ahead.

“I think it’s a very difficult job. I think in days past it was an honor. Everybody wanted that honor. I think today there are many challenges, as there are for priests . . . and for all of us,” he said.

“The challenges have changed and are very different and to be asked to give some kind of direction and leadership to that is terrifying at this stage of the game.”

Mahony, who recommended Wilkerson’s long-expected appointment to the pope, said the monsignor has exercised “superb leadership” in the San Fernando region. Mahony named him episcopal vicar in June 1996, when the region’s then-auxiliary bishop, the Most Rev. Armando Ochoa, was named bishop of El Paso, Texas.

“I have often called upon him to head up special committees to deal with new and emerging problems,” Mahony said, “and he has willingly and with great competence undertaken all of these tasks with pastoral generosity and zeal.”

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, but reared in California, Wilkerson was ordained a priest in 1965 after studying at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. He previously served as associate pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in La Habra, St. Michael Church in Los Angeles and American Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach.

For the past 15 years he has served at Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino, first as administrator, beginning in 1982, and then as its pastor since 1985. His ordination as bishop will take place at the Encino parish.