New co-adjutor in Minneapolis

This morning Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop John Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minnesota, as coadjutor-archbishop in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Nienstedt was appointed to New Ulm in 2001, succeeding Bishop Raymond Lucker, who is now deceased. Nienstedt is originally a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit and then an auxiliary for that same archdiocese.

Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minneapolis is will turn 74 on May 2, one year shy of mandatory retirement. Presumably this appointment will mean that on that date next year, Flynn will step down and Nienstedt will immediately succeed him.

Flynn was appointed coadjutor in Minneapolis in 1994 and succeeded to the office in 1995.

With the latest addition of New Ulm, there are now eight US dioceses that are vacant, including a few that rumor sites have been predicting on a regular basis would have a bishop appointed “any day now” but still remain empty months later. Eleven bishops are also now serving past their 75th birthday.

The vacant sees are: Birmingham, Alabama; Pittsburgh; Little Rock; Great Falls/Billings, Montana; Shreveport, Louisiana; Virgin Islands; Des Moines, Iowa; and New Ulm. The over-75 bishops are Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit; Bishop John Leibrecht of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Bishop Carl Mengeling of Lansing, Michigan; Bishop Raphael Fliss of Superior, Wisconsin; Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore; Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville, Kentucky; Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, Alabama; Bshop Victor Balke of Crookston, Minnesota; Bishop John Yanta of Amarillo, Texas; Bishop Michael Saltarelli of Wilmington, Delaware; and Cardinal Edward Egan of New York.

[Thanks to Catholic-Hierarchy and Ed Peters for the background information.]

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