Appointment of auxiliary bishops of the Military Ordinariate for the U.S.A.

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishops of the Military Ordinariate for the United States of America the Rev. Joseph L. Coffey, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, military chaplain of the United States Navy, assigning him the titular see of Arsacal, and the Rev. William J. Muhm, of the clergy of the archdiocese of New York, military chaplain on leave from the United States Navy and currently parish administrator of the “Most Precious Blood” parish in Walden, New York, assigning him the titular see of Capso.

H.E. Msgr. Joseph L. Coffey

H.E. Msgr. Joseph L. Coffey was born on 31 May 1960 in Minnesota, U.S.A. He is the fifth of nine children of a Catholic family in Philadelphia. He attended primary school in Philadelphia. In 1978 he joined the Archbishop Carrol High School. In 1982 he attended the La Salle University in Philadelphia following a six-month course at the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1995 to 2002 he attended the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia where he pursued his institutional studies, receiving the title of M.A. in moral theology.

He was ordained a priest on 18 May 1996.

From 1996 to 2001 he held various pastoral offices: parish vicar at the Saint Katherine of Siena parish, spiritual director of the “Legion of Mary” (Holy Family Curia), military chaplain at the United States Naval Reserve and member of the presbyteral council of the archdiocese. In 2001 he has entered service as military chaplain of the U.S. Navy, where he holds the rank of Captain, with the task of recruiter in the Chaplain Corps.

H.E. Msgr. William J. Muhm

The Rev. William J. Muhm was born on 27 June 1957 in Billings, Montana, U.S.A. He attended primary and secondary school in Denver and high school at the “Colorado School of Mines” in Golden and Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He completed his institutional studies at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He was ordained a priest on 13 May 1995 in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, by Cardinal John O’Connor, and was incardinated in the same archdiocese. He held the pastoral offices of parish vicar of the Saint Ann Parish in Ossining and in the parish Holy Family parish in Sten Island. From 1998 to 2018 he served as military chaplain for the United States Navy, where he had carried out his military service before ordination. When he completed his ministry as military chaplain in 2018, he was dismissed with the rank of Captain. In the same year he took part in a training course offered by the Institute for Ongoing Theological Education at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. On 1 December 2018 he was appointed as parish administrator of the Most Precious Blood parish in Walden, New York.