Bishop-designate Doherty, 59, succeeds Bishop William Higi, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
Timothy Doherty was born in 1950 in Rockford, Illinois. He earned a baccalaureate in theology in 1975 at the Pontifical Gregorian University during his seminary formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockford in 1976, and returned to Rome to complete his licentiate in moral theology in 1982 at the Alfonsian Academy of the Lateran University in Rome.
In 1996, he completed his doctorate in Christian Ethics at Loyola University Chicago.
In 1995, Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford appointed him the diocesan ethicist for health care issues, a role that has continued to the present.
Lafayette is constituted of a population of 1.29 million, of which 108,000 are Catholic. The diocese counts with 98 priests, 17 permanent deacons and 81 religious.
