An Ecclesiastical Interlude

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And now, a brief interruption in our secular political programming for some ecclesiastical politics.

Yesterday, Bishop David L. Ricken took the chair as bishop of Green Bay Wisconsin. In a ceremony involving Cardinals Maida of Detroit and George of Chicago, the diocese was passed from the apostolic administratorship of Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan to the new incumbent, Bp. Ricken.

The 55-year old prelate comes to Wisconsin from Wyoming. He also did a stint in the Vatican bureaucracy. His initial statement of priorities is very heartening:

“I would say things I’m very interested in are Catholic education; promotion of vocation to the priesthood; enabling the laity to grow spiritually, to grow intellectually with the great treasury of knowledge of the church, and to be able to live their faith in our world today,” the bishop said.

We are reminded this week that Bp. Ricken has big shoes to fill, as his predecessor in Green Bay, Bishop Zubick, now bishop of Pittsburg, issued a statement critical of Speaker Pelosi’s MTP comments (much much more on that sometime this weekend).

I have previously reviewed Bp. Ricken’s record in Cheyenne, and found much of it encouraging. We wish him well, and encourage him to be a strong voice for truth in Wisconsin’s civil dialogue.

• Bradley Day in D.C. - June 5th, 2009
• A Path Forward on Adjuncts at MU - May 12th, 2009
• The Death of Northeast Republicans Greatly Exaggerated - May 6th, 2009
• Joe Biden visits Georgetown Law - April 22nd, 2009
• What's Jim Doyle's Approval Rating? - April 17th, 2009