Vicar General of the Diocese of
Brooklyn
Bishop Frank J. Caggiano was born in Brooklyn, New York on March
29, 1959, on the feast of Easter. He is the youngest of the two
children of Gennarina and the late Arnaldo Caggiano. Bishop
Caggiano has one sister, Antoniette Caggiano. He grew up in Ss.
Simon and Jude Church and attended the parish’s grammar school.
The bishop’s education continued at Regis High School in
Manhattan, conducted by the Jesuits, where he was a member of the
class of 1977.
Bishop Caggiano entered Yale University in September, 1977 as a
political science major. After further discernment, he transferred
into Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in January,
1978. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in Philosophy in June, 1991.
After graduating from Cathedral College, the bishop worked for
18 months as the sales representative for the Gregg Division of
McGraw Hill Publishing Company, serving the entire New York
metropolitan area. At the end of this brief period of secular
employment, the bishop began his major seminary studies at the
Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York. He was
ordained to the priesthood on May 16, 1987 in the chapel of the
Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, Queens.
During the first three years of his priesthood, Bishop Caggiano
served as a parochial vicar in the parishes of Saint Agatha, in the
Sunset Park section of Brooklyn and Saint Athanasius in
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. In August, 1991, Bishop Caggiano was
assigned to the North American College with residence at the Casa
Santa Maria to pursue advanced studies in dogmatic theology at the
Gregorian University in Rome. He was granted a doctorate in Sacred
Dogma in May, 1996 after successfully defending his
dissertation.
Upon his return from Rome, Bishop Caggiano was assigned as
parochial vicar in the Shrine Church of Saint Jude in Canarsie in
June, 1996. He was also appointed the Dean of Formation for the
Permanent Diaconate Program and the Censor Librorum of the Diocese.
As Dean, he oversaw the spiritual and theological formation of the
men who were preparing for ordination as permanent deacons for our
Diocese. In December, 1998, Bishop Caggiano was appointed the
pastor of Saint Dominic’s Church in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. During
his time as pastor, the bishop also taught a number of theology
courses at numerous Catholic universities, including the Staten
Island campus of Saint John’s University and Saint Joseph’s
College.
In June, 2002, Bishop Daily appointed Bishop Caggiano as the
Director of the Permanent Diaconate Office. Among his duties was to
oversee the revision of the formation program for men studying to
serve as deacons in light of the Directory for the Ministry and
Life of Permanent Deacons (1998) and related documents. A second
task was to create an ongoing formation program for deacons already
assigned to ministry.