WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 15, 2001 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II has appointed Auxiliary Bishop John C. Nienstedt of Detroit, Michigan, as bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota.
He succeeds Bishop Raymond A. Lucker who resigned last November.
The Pope also appointed Monsignor Samuel J. Aquila, rector of St. John Vianney Seminary, Denver, Colorado, to be coadjutor under Bishop James S. Sullivan of Fargo, North Dakota, with the right of succession.
John C. Nienstedt was born in Detroit on March 18, 1947. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, the North American College, Pontifical Gregorian University and the Alphonsianum in Rome where he earned a doctorate in moral theology. He was ordained a priest July 27, 1974.
The then Monsignor Nienstedt was named secretary to the cardinal archbishop of Detroit in 1977 and appointed to the Secretariat of State at the Vatican in 1980.
In 1987 Bishop Nienstedt was given the task of reorganizing Sacred Heart Seminary. He was named rector of the seminary in 1988. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Detroit in June 1996.
The newly appointed coadjutor bishop of Fargo, Samuel Aquila, was born Sept. 24, 1950 in Burbank, California.
He studied at St. Thomas Seminary, Denver, Colorado, and San Anselmo in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1976. He was named rector of St. John Vianney Seminary in 1999.
