The Diocese of Rochester is asking for prayers for Bishop Emeritus Matthew H. Clark.
In a Jan. 18 memo, Bishop Salvatore R. Matano asked the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the diocese to unite in prayer for Bishop Clark, who has experienced “declining health.”
Bishop Clark, who led the Rochester Diocese from 1979-2012, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019. His 33-year tenure as bishop was the second-longest in the Diocese of Rochester’s history.
Bishop Matano suggested the following prayer
Almighty and merciful God,
who through the fact of death itself
have mercifully unlocked for the human race the gate to eternal life,
look kindly on your servant, Bishop Matthew H. Clark,
in his final struggle, so that,
united to your Son’s Passion and sealed with His Blood,
he may come without blemish into your presence.
Though Christ our Lord.
