Pope Francis appoints new Auxiliary for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

Bishop Robert Coyle is a native of Brooklyn, NY, where he was born in 1964. He attended St. Edward Confessor Elementary School in Syosset, NY, and in 1982 graduated from St. Mary’s Boys High School in Manhasset, NY. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Fordham University, Bishop Coyle entered the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s Immaculate Conception Seminary, where he obtained a Master of Divinity and was ordained a priest in May 1991. He then obtained a Master degree in theology in 1998.

MIlitary service

In 1988, Bishop Coyle was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. While serving as a Naval Reserve chaplain, he ministered from 1991 to 1999 in the parishes of St Dominic’s in Oyster Bay, NY and St Patrick’s in Glen Cove, NY . On Active Duty from 1999 until 2009, he served in Okinawa, Japan, on the USS Harry S. TRUMAN Aircraft Carrier, in the Middle East, and at the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY as Assistant Command Chaplain and then as Command Chaplain. Finally, he served on the USS Dwight D. EISENHOWER Aircraft Carrier and was deployed to the Middle East in 2009. Having already been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during his first year on Active Duty, he was subsequently promoted to the rank of Commander in the US Navy in 2005.

Bishop Coyle left Active Duty in 2009, and became Pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Mineola, NY. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA in February 2013. He was ordained a bishop in April that year and carried out his episcopal services as Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Half of the United States.