DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News
November 11, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI named Denver Archdiocese Vicar General -Msgr. Ralph Walker Nickless to be the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, church officials said Thursday.
Nickless, 58, is a Denver native and has been in the Archdiocese of Denver for 27 years. He was in Sioux City on Thursday taking a tour of the area before heading to his first meeting of the U.S. Conference of Bishops this weekend.
As bishop-elect, he said he will not have voting power in the conference until officially ordained Jan. 20 in Sioux City. ...
One thing he will inherit is part of the priest sex abuse scandal that has swept up dozens of dioceses throughout the country and has led at least three to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In the Diocese of Sioux City, the number of pending clergy sexual abuse lawsuits this past spring dropped to six after several cases were settled, according to the Sioux City Journal.