New Bishops for Duluth, Pueblo

DULUTH, Minnesota, OCT. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Father Paul Sirba, vicar-general of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as bishop of Duluth.

Bishop-designate Sirba, 49, succeeds Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, who was named coadjutor archbishop for the Diocese of Cincinnati last year.

Paul Sirba was born in St. Paul in 1960, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1986.

He was appointed vicar-general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis last July.

The Diocese of Duluth includes a population 439,478, of which 60,532 are Catholic. There are 82 priests, 41 permanent deacons and 142 religious.

Pueblo

Benedict XVI appointed Father Fernando Isern, a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami, as bishop of the Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado.

Bishop-designate Isern, 51, succeeds Bishop Arthur Tafoya, whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

Fernando Isern was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1958 and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami in 1993.

The Diocese of Pueblo has a population of 626,000, of which 121,000 are Catholics. There are 90 priests, 33 permanent deacons and 94 religious.

Providence

Monsignor Robert C. Evans, 62, of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, was appointed auxiliary of the same diocese.

He will be the lone auxiliary in the diocese, led by Bishop Thomas Tobin.

Robert Evans was born in Moultrie, Georgia, in 1947 and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Providence in 1973.