A top leadership post opening in Cleveland will result in Diocese of Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas splitting his time between here and there.

At a 10 a.m. press conference Wednesday, Bishop Thomas was introduced as the apostolic administrator for the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland, a position for which he was named by Pope Francis and will hold in addition to his continuing shepherding of his home diocese.

The move is temporary until a permanent replacement is found.

Cleveland's bishop, the Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon, said at the press conference that Pope Francis granted his request for early retirement because of ongoing health challenges. Bishop Lennon, who led the Cleveland diocese for 10½ years, said he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Bishop Thomas said his responsibility to Cleveland will be to administer the affairs of that diocese.

“Someone asked me ‘How are you going to do this, to be governing two dioceses at the same time?’ ” he said at the press conference. “It's going to be a matter of a few days here, and [a few days] there.”

Msgr. William J. Kubacki, the Toledo diocese’s vicar general and moderator of the curia, who works closely with Bishop Thomas, met with The Blade at Rosary Cathedral, where he is rector. He said he and Bishop Thomas discussed the appointment just before Christmas, when he knew of the new role.

“He's going to get a sense of what is needed there, and time, and then come back here. Then he and I and his administrative assistant will sit down and look at the calendar as to how it's going to happen. I would think that he’s going to have to rely more on his senior staff in both dioceses, and delegate certain things to both staff to do because he obviously just can't do everything.”

Msgr. Kubacki said that he and Bishop Thomas joked about putting the bishop's office in Vermilion, Ohio, “halfway between Cleveland and Toledo.’’

“But then you have to be careful because Vermilion is a city that is half the Diocese of Toledo and half Diocese of Cleveland because the county line goes through Vermilion and dioceses are determined by county lines,” Msgr. Kubacki said.

At the press conference, Bishop Thomas said a few weeks are needed for “coming up to speed,” and compared his duties to those of an interim coach.

When Toledo's Bishop Leonard Blair was named archbishop of Hartford, Conn., by Pope Francis in December, 2013, the Very Rev. Charles Ritter served as diocesan administrator in Toledo — named by the diocese's College of Consultors — until Pope Francis appointed Bishop Thomas, then a Philadelphia auxiliary bishop, who was installed on Oct. 22, 2014.

Bishop Thomas has much the same role in Cleveland as Father Ritter did in Toledo, with the added responsibilities of his being a bishop.

It is “somewhat rare” for a diocesan sitting bishop to be named an apostolic administrator, Msgr. Kubacki said. “Many times it's a coadjutor bishop, who has rights of succession, or it’s an auxiliary bishop in that particular diocese. Or the appointment is left to the diocese’s College of Consultors.”

While the Cleveland position is temporary, Msgr. Kubacki added the process of appointing a bishop is rather extensive.

“But I would pretty much be assured that that process is going to start today or tomorrow, and the wide consultation will happen,” he said. “I know Bishop Thomas’ prayer is that happens as quickly as possible, also allowing the Holy Spirit to work in that process, too.”

Contact TK Barger at tkbarger@theblade.com, 419-724-6278 or on Twitter @TK_Barger.

First Published December 29, 2016, 5:00 a.m.