Bishop McFarland’s Surgery Goes Well

Doctors removed a large aortic aneurysm from the abdomen of Bishop Norman F. McFarland on Thursday in what officials from the Diocese of Orange described as a successful operation.

McFarland, who has led the county’s congregation of 610,000 Roman Catholics for more than a decade, is expected to remain in the intensive care unit of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach for several days. Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird said the bishop is expected to leave the hospital within a week or so.

Baird said the diocese has received hundreds of phone calls from people interested in McFarland’s condition. He said prayer vigils have occurred at churches and seminaries throughout the state.