Former Bishop Howard Hubbard hospitalized
Former Bishop Howard Hubbard was hospitalized at Albany Medical Center Thursday after having a stroke.
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Mark Behan of Behan Communications, a longtime friend and advisor of the former bishop, confirmed that Hubbard was hospitalized early Thursday, but declined further comment out of respect for Hubbard’s privacy.
Hubbard announced that he had married a woman in a civil ceremony at the end of July after an unsuccessful bid to be removed from priesthood.
“I could be 91 or 92 before these legal matters are concluded,” Hubbard, 84, said. “In the meantime, I have fallen in love with a wonderful woman who has helped and cared for me and who believes in me.”
Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said rules against marriage still apply to Hubbard, even though he cannot represent himself as a priest.
“The Church does not acknowledge his marriage as valid,” Scharfenberger said in a letter to the diocese. “He remains a retired Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore cannot enter into marriage.”
This photo from Wednesday Feb. 25, 2004, shows Bishop Howard Hubbard swinging incense during an Ash Wednesday communion service at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo / Jim McKnight, File)
Bishop Scharfenberger released a statement following Hubbard’s hospitalization, which you can read below: