Bishop Callahan, who will turn 60 next Thursday, succeeds Archbishop Jerome Edward Listecki, who was named archbishop of Milwaukee last November.
William Patrick Callahan was born in Chicago on June 17, 1950. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Radio and Television Communications from Loyola University in Chicago, and his master’s of divinity from St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.
In 2005, he was assigned as a spiritual director for the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He remained there until 2007, when he was named auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
The La Crosse Diocese serves a population of 902,000, of which 207,000 are Catholic. The diocese counts with 189 priests, 42 permanent deacons and 412 religious.
