named vice-chancellor of the diocese in 1965. From 1968 to 1980, Bevilacqua was a visiting professor of canon law at Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. During this time, he also founded the Diocesan Office for Migration and Refugees in 1971. Bevilacqua earned a J.D. from St. John's University in 1975. He was admitted to practice law in the courts of New York and Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bevilacqua was named by the Holy See as honorary prelate of his holiness on January 23, 1976; he became chancellor of the diocese that year also. He remained chancellor of the diocese and director of its Migration and Refugee Office until 1983. From 1977 to 1980, Bevilacqua taught immigration law as an adjunct professor at St. John's University School of Law. Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn On October 7, 1980, Bevilacqua was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and titular bishop of Aquae Albae in Byzacena by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on November 24, 1980 from Bishop Francis Mugavero, with Bishops John J. Snyder and Charles Mulrooney serving as co-consecrators, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn. Bevilacqua selected as his episcopal motto: Ecclesia Mater Nostra, meaning, "The Church, our Mother." Mansour controversy In 1983, Bevilacqua became involved in the case of Agnes Mary Mansour. A member of the Sisters of Mercy religious order in Detroit, Mansour administered the State of Michigan's Medicaid program as the director of the Michigan Department of Social Services. In 1983, Detroit Archbishop Edmund Szoka asked Mansour to declare her opposition to public financing of abortion procedures for women, which she refused to do. The Vatican then sent Bevilacqua to meet with her. He told Mansour that if she didn't resign as director, she would have to leave the Sisters of Mercy. Mansour chose to keep her job and leave her religious order. In the early 1980's, as chair of the Committee on Canonical Affairs, Bevilacqua led the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) through the first phases of implementing the new 1983 Code of Canon Law, making appropriate U.S. adaptations. Bishop of Pittsburgh Bevilacqua was named by Pope John Paul II as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh on October 7, 1983. Succeeding Bishop Vincent Leonard, Bevilacqua was consecrated by Bishop Mugavero on December 12, 1983. He was a member