New York priest who served at the Vatican appointed ACN’s Ecclesiastical Assistant

Aid to the Church in Need-USA, a pontifical foundation that helps Christians around the world live their faith under the most difficult circumstances, has appointed Msgr. Luke M. Sweeney, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, to serve as its ecclesiastical assistant.

Msgr. Sweeney, who formerly served at the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, now is Vice Rector and Dean of Seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) in Yonkers, New York. He is responsible for the human formation of seminarians preparing for priesthood and assists in the governance and administration of the seminary community.

Founded in 1947, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) supports Christians in more than 150 countries who face persecution, poverty, or other obstacles to living out their faith. Based in the Vatican and Germany, ACN operates through 23 national offices worldwide

As ecclesiastical assistant Msgr. Sweeney will guide the spiritual life and mission of ACN-USA, headquartered in New York. He succeeds Msgr. Roger Landry, now national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the U.S.

“Msgr. Luke Sweeney brings a wealth of experience to his new role,” said George J. Marlin, Chairman of the ACN-USA Board. “His deep knowledge, pastoral insight, and love for the Church will strengthen our mission and benefit the suffering faithful we serve around the globe.”

Msgr. Sweeney said he looks forward to accompanying ACN-USA’s staff and benefactors in their shared mission.

“I hope to offer a spirituality rooted in our Catholic faith and the richness of its social teaching,” he said. “I look forward to visiting our offices regularly, praying with our team, and maintaining a strong connection with the universal family of Aid to the Church in Need.”

Bringing his experience

Msgr. Sweeney said that studying in Rome, where he earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Institute “John Paul II” for Studies on Marriage and Family, connected him with students from Cuba, Hong Kong and Uganda.

“I heard firsthand about the local challenges” in those places, he said.

Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Turkey over the years allowed him to witness the struggle of Christians and the Church in those areas.

And when he served as vocation director for the Archdiocese of New York from 2006 to 2012, he “had the blessing of getting to know a family of our Arabic Catholic community here in Yonkers, New York. Hearing their stories of the Christian community in the Holy Land brought home the reality of how the Church in the Holy Land exists without its full freedom that we all should enjoy in this world.”

Msgr. Sweeney was an official in the English language section of the Congregation for Bishops from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he also served as adjunct spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College, working with seminarians, deacons and new priests. He gave regular tours of the excavations underneath St. Peter’s Basilica, leading pilgrimages to the tomb of St. Peter.

While living in Rome, he celebrated the English-language Mass at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, which is a block away from St. Peter’s Square. Pope St. John Paul II made the church the Divine Mercy Sanctuary of Rome. Msgr. Sweeney also celebrated Mass weekly at one of the Missionaries of Charity houses in Rome.

A native of Irvington, New York, Msgr. Sweeney was ordained in 2001 by Cardinal Edward Egan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral after studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

He also has served as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Scarsdale, New York, and as parochial vicar of parishes in Westchester County and the Bronx.

He has been a commentator on Channel 2-WCBS New York.

His service at the Congregation for Bishops was before Cardinal Robert Prevost – the future Pope Leo XIV — became prefect.

“When I returned for a Jubilee Alumni Reunion this past January 2025, I did have an opportunity to meet Cardinal Prevost at the Dicastery’s daily coffee break and found him to be such a warm and welcoming person,” he said. “I should have taken a selfie at that time.”

–John Burger