By Baylie Evans
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
October 20, 2009
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/10/20/featured_story/01top_10-20-09.txt
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| New Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wyoming Paul D. Etienne speaks during mass at St. Mary's Cathedral yesterday. Michael Smith/staff |
The Rev. Paul D. Etienne will be ordained here, most likely in December.
CHEYENNE -- After waiting for more than a year, Catholics in Wyoming now have a new shepherd.
Pope Benedict XVI has announced that Paul D. Etienne from Indiana will take over as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne when he is officially ordained here, most likely in early December.
The former bishop, David Ricken, was appointed to the Green Bay (Wis.) Diocese in July of 2008.
Since then the Rev. Michael Carr of the Cheyenne Diocese has been the diocesan administrator here. He will continue in that capacity until Etienne officially takes over.
"My heart is filled with gratitude, excitement and many other emotions," Etienne said at a news conference on Monday in Cheyenne.
Etienne was ordained as a priest in 1992. He then attended Gregorian University in Rome until 1995, and henow serves as a priest with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
From 1984-1986, Etienne attended the University of St. Thomas/St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., where he earned a degree in business administration. From 1988-1992, he attended the North American College in Rome.
The local diocese learned of the appointment early Monday.
"I was supposed to begin a vacation today, walleye fishing with a dear priest friend in Minnesota," Etienne said. "Jesus has once again asked me to leave all behind and follow him."
Etienne's only visit to Wyoming was a short trip in the 1970s. But he said he is looking forward to living and preaching here.
As bishop of the Cheyenne Diocese, he will be the "chief shepherd" for all Roman Catholics in Wyoming, he said. That's more than 53,000 people.
Geographically, he will be responsible for a much larger area than he is at his current assignment.
"He is really kind of a down-to-earth person," said the Rev. Gary Ruzicka, pastor at St. Mary's Cathedral.
Ruzicka did add, though, that he didn't know Etienne before Monday.
Ruzicka said the new bishop's first challenges likely will be to bring cohesiveness and unity to the diocese.
"We haven't had a bishop for 15 months," he added. "That's like a state having no governor for 15 months."
The ordination ceremony, set for Cheyenne, will include church dignitaries, and Etienne will be ordained by the archbishop of Denver as well as by Ricken. A representative from the pope will attend as well.
That ceremony likely will happen some time in early December. The location of the ordination is unclear at this point since St. Mary's Cathedral is undergoing renovation.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, expressed apprehension at the appointment of the new bishop.
"Etienne does come from an archdiocese with a particularly secretive and callous track record on abuse cases," wrote Barbara Dorris, SNAP's national outreach director, in a release. "We've seen no evidence that he ever spoke up about or objected to such hardball tactics, and we're troubled by this."
Dorris added that the group hopes Etienne will insist upon the removal of former Bishop Joseph Hart's name from a wing at the St. Joseph's Children's Home in Torrington.
Hart reportedly agreed to a settlement in a child molestation case last year in the Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph, where he served prior to coming to Wyoming. However, he has continued to deny all charges.
Said Dorris, "I can't imagine anything more important for a bishop than to protect the innocent and the vulnerable in his diocese."
A request for a response to SNAP's comments was not immediately available from officials at the Cheyenne diocese.
Contact: bevans@wyomingnews.com
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