SIOUX CITY (IA)
Des Moines Register
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 10, 2005
The pope has named Monsignor Ralph Nickless, currently the vicar general in Denver, as bishop in Sioux City, the Vatican announced today.
Nickless, 58, is a native of Denver and was ordained a priest there in 1973.
He studied theology in Rome at the North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University, and held a series of positions in Colorado parishes before being named vicar general in Denver in 1993.
Nickless succeeds Bishop Daniel DiNardo, who is coadjutor under Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas. DiNardo left the Sioux City diocese in March 2004.
Like bishops around the country, Nickless will have to deal with allegations of sexual abuse by priests.
More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed against the Sioux City diocese.