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Buffalo's Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Celebrates 70 Years as a Priest

By Mark Scott

Buffalo, NY – Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the ordination as a priest of Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Bernard McLaughlin.

Diocesan officials say that length of time is rare for a priest. His friend, Bishop Robert Cunningham, a former diocesan administrator in Buffalo who now leads the Ogdensburg Diocese, says at age 93, Bishop McLaughin is pretty much retired.

"I think he continues to say Mass on a daily basis at St. Timothy's Church in Tonawanda," Cunningham said. "Other than that, he gets around."

Bishop McLaughlin was in charge of the Buffalo diocese for several months prior to Bishop Edward Head's installation in 1973. He was also the first Buffalo priest to travel to the Vatican to be ordained a bishop by a pope.