Bishop Edmund J. Whalen

2026 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Award
Bishop Edmund J. Whalen
Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York

Bishop Edmund Whalen was named the Vicar General for the Archdiocese of New York by Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks on April 7, 2026.

Bishop Whalen grew up on Staten Island and along with his brothers, attended Blessed Sacrament Parish and School and Monsignor Farrell High School. He graduated from Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, Douglaston, with a degree in history and continued his priestly formation at the North American College, Rome where he earned his Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1983. He completed a licentiate in moral theology at the Academia Alfonsiana of the Pontifical Lateran University in 1985 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 1995.

He was ordained a deacon in St. Peter’s Basilica in 1983. His service as a deacon in the Diocese of Kakamega, Kenya, deepened his appreciation for the richness of our Catholic faith and the many ways this faith is lived and celebrated around the world.

In 1984, he was ordained a priest in St. Patrick’s Cathedral by then-Archbishop John O’Connor. His early ministry assignments took him to Resurrection Parish in Rye and St. Joseph’s in Bronxville. Bishop Whalen returned to his alma mater, Monsignor Farrell High School, in 1987, this time to teach religion and chair the Religion Department until he was appointed secretary to John Cardinal O’Connor in 1990. He then returned to Monsignor Farrell from 2010 to 2019 serving as principal and teaching religion and foreign language and was honored in 2024 by Monsignor Farrell with the prestigious Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award.

His dedication to education is further highlighted by his twelve years as a faculty member at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie while also serving as Vice Rector of Dunwoodie and then Rector of St. John Neumann Seminary Residence, Riverdale.

In May 2001, he became pastor of St. Benedict’s Parish, Throggs Neck, The Bronx where he ministered to the Italian speaking community and began outreach to the Spanish speaking community. He was pastor of St. Joseph-St. Thomas Parish, Staten Island from 2007 to 2010.

Cardinal Dolan named him Vicar for Clergy in January 2019 and on December 10th, the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, Bishop Edmund Whalen was ordained to the episcopacy.