For 3rd time in recent months, Chicago priest named archbishop
April 01, 2025
For the third time in recent months, Pope Francis has appointed a Chicago priest as a metropolitan archbishop.
On March 31, the Pope appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, as archbishop of Omaha, Nebraska. He succeeds Archbishop George Lucas, who turned 75 last June. Bishop McGovern, ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, had been appointed bishop of Belleville in 2020.
Earlier, on November 6, the Pope appointed Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Grob of Chicago as archbishop of Milwaukee. Bishop Grob was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1992.
On February 12, Pope Francis appointed Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey of Chicago as archbishop of Cincinnati. Like Bishop McGovern, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994; he was named a Chicago auxiliary bishop in 2018.
During Cardinal Blase Cupich’s 11-year tenure as archbishop of Chicago, Pope Francis has appointed 11 auxiliary bishops of Chicago: three in 2018, three in 2020, and five in 2024. Three of them (including Archbishop Grob and Archbishop-elect Casey) now lead other dioceses. Over the past decade, an additional three Chicago priests (including Archbishop-elect McGovern) have been named bishops.
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Posted by: feedback -
Apr. 01, 2025 2:13 PM ET USA
The ordination class of 1994 (of Archbishops McGovern and Casey, and two other Bishops) also included a serial child molester Daniel McCormack, w. over 150 victims. Court discoveries during lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Chicago revealed that McCormack was well known in the seminary as an active homosexual. It would be proper for the new Archbishops to let the people of God know if they knew of McCormack's corruption and whether they approved his ordination - which is a canonical procedure.
