Praying For Bishop Doran's Safe Recovery

ROCKFORD-- Thousands of Rockford area Catholics pray for their spiritual leader, after learning Saturday that he's being aggressively treated for cancer.

Catholic priests across the Rockford area break some hard news to their parishioners during Saturday evening mass, telling them Bishop Thomas Doran has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

As 13 News was first to tell you Saturday, the Bishop had several tumors removed from his lungs and is now recovering at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Church leaders say doctors detected the cancer after a routine physical exam early last week.
Bishop Doran then underwent surgery on Thursday to remove tumors from his left lung.
Doctors do believe they removed all of the cancer before it spread.

Father Brian Geary of St. Patrick's Church in Rockford says "He's our spiritual father, so we all feel it very personally as if he were our own father."

The diagnosis came just days before Bishop Doran's 40th anniversary as a priest.
He rose to his current position as head of the Rockford Diocese in June 1994, and has since left footprints on many hearts in the area.
. . .
Church leaders expect Bishop Doran to return to Rockford before the end of next week.

The Rockford Diocese has scheduled a news conference Monday morning to provide further details about his treatment.

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Please Bishop Doran in your prayers.