This morning Pope Benedict XVI named the Most Rev. David Ricken as bishop of Green Bay. Ricken currently serves as bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Early indications from his record in Cheyenne indicates he will provide a strong voice for orthodox teaching in Green Bay and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.
In the Cheyenne Diocese, Bishop Ricken has placed emphasis on youth outreach, including support for SPARK magazine and conservative Wyoming Catholic College and the Wyoming School for Catholic Thought. He’s been a guest several times on EWTN and he welcomed a cloistered Carmelite community. He’s also got a great record on inspiring vocations, which is often the sign of successful orthodoxy. He’s a supporter of NFP and the Theology of the Body.
Finally, his pastoral statement on abortion in 2004 was masterful! Equally, after a lesbian couple in his Cheyenne diocese “married” in Canada and them trumpeted this fact in local media, their parish priest said:
”It is with a heavy heart, in obedience to the instruction of Bishop David Ricken, that I must inform you that, because of your union and your public advocacy of same-sex unions, you are unable to receive Communion.”
The bishop said the couple’s sex life constitutes a grave sin, ”and the fact that it became so public, that was their choice.”
One commentator attributed this decision to his training as a canon lawyer. Given Bishop Ricken’s prior actions and statements in Wyoming, I have great hope for the work he will do for the church in Green Bay and Wisconsin.
Last 5 posts by Daniel- Tom Barrett's Savings Plan - June 8th, 2010
- C.J. Abrahamson on J. Stevens - April 11th, 2010
- Why always Bill Bablitch? - March 24th, 2010
- Suhr on Nixon on Health Care - February 23rd, 2010
- Did the USCCB Foresee Dead People? - February 8th, 2010
Great signs Congrats will link
Daniel,
Great work, esp. since you mention a fact that the Press-Gazette fails to mention: that Bishop Ricken has a law degree.
See the CV on the Diocese of Cheyenne’s official site (http://www.dioceseofcheyenne.org/bricken.html)
“In 1987 Bishop Tafoya assigned Father Ricken to graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he received his Licentiate degree (J.C.L.) in Canon Law in 1989.”
Roma locuta est, et verba bona sunt.
Indeed.
Anybody have any insight into this blog entry, which seems to imply that the bishop caved in, and re-admitted the lesbian “couple” to Holy Communion? If the blog is all hogwash, I’d be relieved–but the (*gag*) “DIGNITY USA” newsletter corroborates the story. This looks bad, frankly…
I’m surprised at how young he is to already be a Bishop at 55. He can do a lot of good up there in my hometwon diocese.
Hopefully he’ll be a lot like Bishop Aloysius.
This is good, especially with me being from Appleton that the Green Bay Diocese will be back on the right track.
The last bishop David Zubik gave the diocese a bad rap especially for allowing an Appleton Xavier teacher to be fired for having an baby through in-vitro fertlization, and basically putting priests and shifting them around at his will just because they wine. Thats what happened to a good pastor John Schuetze who basically was moved around after a principal firing conterversory in Freedom.
Otherwise, the new Green Bay bishop comes from the close to the same area Madison Bishop Robert Morlino came from which is the Diocese of Helena.
Kyle Maichle wrote:
This is good, especially with me being from Appleton that the Green Bay Diocese will be back on the right track. The last bishop David Zubik gave the diocese a bad rap especially for allowing an Appleton Xavier teacher to be fired for having an baby through in-vitro fertlization,
Well… you do know that in-vitro fertilization is a blatant violation of Catholic teaching, right? Since all Catholic schools have (or at least should have) a clause in their contracts saying, “I will uphold Catholic teaching, even if I am not a Catholic”, the teacher in question was in breach of contract… and in a tragically grave way. Bishop Zupic would have been negligent *not* to affirm the school’s decision to fire that teacher (or to *insist* on firing her, if the school had been reluctant).
If it helps, keep in mind that in-vitro fertilization, in addition to being a grave offense against God and the child (see Catechism, 2373-2379, especially 2378), rarely leaves less than 2-3 CHILDREN DEAD by the end of the process–e.g. taking multiple ova, fertilizing them–which brings that many new children into the world, complete with immortal souls–and implanting several in the uterus of the mother; some of the children die in that process [the highest "pregnancy suggess rate" that I've seen for IVF at a specific clinic is about 60% per attempt--and that's wildly unusual, since the normal rate is less than 30%], while other children are selectively aborted by the doctor–in keeping with the parents’ specifications for “how many children” they’d like. If a baby survives that long, they’ll also need to survive to the end of the pregnancy (which isn’t very likely), and to arrive without birth defects (which are significantly more probable than normal).
Think about it, in that light: if this same teacher had quintuplets, and then hired a doctor to kill some of them so as to “plan their family size effectively”, would you still balk at Bishop Zupic’s support for the firing of that woman? That’s essentially what happened, here.
and basically putting priests and shifting them around at his will just because they wine. Thats what happened to a good pastor John Schuetze who basically was moved around after a principal firing conterversory in Freedom.
The bishop *does* have the right to transfer any priest or deacon at his discretion… and he has the right to expect the priests to live up to their vows of obedience to him (i.e. not “whining” in public, or to the press, etc.–there are proper ways to go about complaints, and not every priest has the inclination to follow them). I’d need to have more details/references before I could comment further on that.
In short, Bishop Zupic was–and is–and outstanding successor to the Apostles, despite the political enemies he might’ve made by being faithful to his calling. His mission is to save souls and to defend the Faith… not to pacify wounded egos, or to look the other way when Catholic school employees–who are in the position of role-models for their students–commit grave sins with impunity.
Otherwise, the new Green Bay bishop comes from the close to the same area Madison Bishop Robert Morlino came from which is the Diocese of Helena.
True… and they’re largely cast from the same mold; two faithful bishops, bucking the political waves in order to be faithful to Christ’s Church.
[...] have previously reviewed Bp. Ricken’s record in Cheyenne, and found much of it encouraging. We wish him well, and [...]