Nienstedt

named

bishop of

New Ulm

Diocese

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Rev. John Clayton Nienstedt will be named bishop of the New Ulm Catholic Diocese today.

Nienstedt succeeds Bishop Raymond A. Lucker, who retired last November, after serving 25 years.

Nienstedt was named the third bishop of the New Ulm Diocese by Pope John Paul II.

Nienstedt, currently auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, also holds several honorary appointments, including chaplain to the pope in 1985 with the title of monsignor, Prelate of Honor in 1990 and Knight of the Holy Sepulcher in 1994.

In years past, he served the Roman Catholic Church in both Rome and in his native Michigan.

Nienstedt was ordained in 1974 at Sacred Heart Church in Dearborn, Mich. He served as a parish priest until 1976, when he became secretary to Cardinal John Francis Dearden, Archbishop of Detroit. He has taught moral theology at St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Mich. He was Vicar General of the archdiocese from 1979 to 1980.

The 1980s found Nienstedt in Rome, Italy, as the chaplain of the Baby Jesus Hospital and the Brothers of the Holy Cross at the Notre Dame High School for Boys.

He later became an adjunct professor of theology and in 1987 became the designated rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary. He became rector of the College and School of Theology.

He was an assistant professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary from 1988 to the present. He was appointed director of the Archdiocesan Medical-Moral Committee of Detroit in September 1995, a position which he still holds.today.

Nienstedt became auxiliary bishop of Detroit in 1996 for the south region of the archdiocese, which serves 88 Catholic parishes.

The Diocese of New Ulm was established in 1957. Its first bishop was the Rev. Alphonse J. Schladweiler, who served from 1957 to 1975, when he was succeeded by Lucker. The diocese serves 15 counties including Big Stone, Brown, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Sibley, Swift and Yellow Medicine. The total Catholic population of those counties is about 70,835 people.