The next bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo arrived in Western New York Friday afternoon.
Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine was greeted at the Buffalo Niagara Airport by retiring Bishop Edward Kmiec, some church leaders and Catholic school children.
Malone then held a brief news conference with reporters discussing the challenges ahead.
"My greatest challenge is really, coming from my ignorance of much of the details of all of that, I have to do a lot of learning, studying and listening to people. But I do hope to bring healing and continue to build upon the good work Bishop Kmiec has done these years," said Malone.
After his installation as bishop of Buffalo next Friday, August 10, Bishop Malone will continue to lead the Diocese of Portland, Maine as well, but he says he is up to the task.
"It will be daunting, but I have a good staff there as I know I have here. We will be having at least weekly video conferences," said Bishop Malone.
Malone noted that like Kmiec, he also made tough decisions on closing churches.
"I'm looking forward to traveling around our Diocese. We are going to begin to do that right away," noted Bishop Malone.