Pope Names Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Siegel as New Bishop of Evansville
WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has named Bishop Joseph M. Siegel, up until now
Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet, as the new bishop of Evansville, Indiana.
The announcement was publicized
in Washington on October 18 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio
to the United States.
Bishop Siegel was named Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet, Illinois,
by Pope Benedict XVI on October 28, 2009 and was ordained a bishop on January
19, 2010 by Bishop Peter Sartain.
He was born in Lockport
Township on July 18, 1963 and is the youngest of nine children. He attended St.
Meinrad Seminary, Indiana, where he completed his college education. He was then sent to the North American
College in Rome (1984-1988), attending the Gregorian and Angelicum
Universities.
Bishop Siegel was ordained a priest for the Joliet Diocese in 1988 and then completed
his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake,
Mundelein, Illinois.
Assignments after ordination include: associate pastor, St. Isidore Parish,
Bloomingdale, Illinois, 1988-1994; associate pastor, St. Mary
Immaculate Parish, Plainfield, Illinois, 1994-1998; parochial vicar, St. Mary Nativity
Church, Joliet, Illinois, 1998-2000; parochial vicar, Cathedral of St. Raymond,
Joliet, Illinois, 2000-2004; pastor, Visitation Parish, Elmhurst, Illinois,
2004-2009. In July 2011, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon appointed Bishop Siegel as his
Vicar General.
Bishop Siegel has served as a member and chairman of the Presbyteral Council
and was appointed to the Diocesan Board of Consultors. He also served as
director of Continuing Formation for Priests, a member of the Diocesan Vocation
Board, the Priest Personnel Board and Dean of Eastern Will County.
At the Catholic Conference of Illinois, he served on the Executive Committee
and was chairman of the Catholics for Life Department. He chaired the Steering
Committee for the Joliet Diocesan Year of the Eucharist and Eucharistic
Congress and has been a member of the Bishops’ Respect Life Advisory Board. He
is a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and a member of the Knights of the Holy
Sepulchre.
The Diocese of Evansville, Indiana, comprises 5,010 square miles. It has a
total population of 512,870 people of which 76,218, or 15 percent, are
Catholic.
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Keywords: Pope Francis, Bishop Joseph Siegel, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of
Evansville, bishop appointment, Archbishop
Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio.
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Media Contact:
Judy Keane
202-541-3200
