When Archbishop Timothy Dolan was transferred from Milwaukee to New York, it represented a tremendous loss for the entire Wisconsin community. Whispers in the Loggia, chronicler of ecclesiastical intrigue, makes the following note today:
And, lastly, nine months after the archdiocese of Milwaukee fell vacant on Dolan’s Eastward move, a recent spike of buzz suggests that the appointment of the Beer City’s next archbishop could be named within the next fortnight.
While no single front-runner has risen to the top, the interregnum’s birthed a lake’s worth of speculation, the most common and credible of which has narrowed the field to a Pack of Four: Bishops Gerald Kicanas of Tucson (currently vice-president of the US bishops), Blase Cupich of Rapid City, Jerome Listecki of LaCrosse and Milwaukee’s administrator, Auxiliary Bishop William Callahan OFM Conv., a close confidant of Dolan’s who attended last week’s Al Smith Dinner in New York as the archbishop’s guest.
I would be surprised if it’s Bishop Kicanas. After all, Bp. Kicanas ran as the liberal candidate against Archbishop Dolan for vice president (and thus in line to be president) of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2007 – he defeated Dolan in that race. Bishop Kicanas is also the oldest among the candidates and is very interested in immigration issues, which seem more to his current assignment in Arizona.
Bishop Listecki has been, by all I’ve seen, an excellent shepherd for the Catholic diocese of La Crosse, and I’d be very happy to see him take up the chair in St. John the Evangelist. Bp. Cupich I’m less familiar with, but he certainly seems to have the right credentials. And it certainly could be Bishop Callahan, who was praised when picked as the auxiliary. Not on Rocco’s list is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, who had been mentioned in the past and has always been a personal favorite of mine (he’s been rumored for a bump before).
The Congregation for Bishops has been on a kick the last two weeks releasing selections for various vacancies, so we may be in for our turn in Milwaukee soon.
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Listecki would be very good, another who has not been mentioned much but would be good and probably is under consideration is Bishop Paul Swain in SD, look him up, decorated vietnam vet, worked for Gov. Dreyfus in WI for many years, convert from Protestantism, ordained in Madison.