WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 5, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has named Monsignor Jeffrey Monforton, 49, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, as bishop of Steubenville, Ohio. The appointment was publicized in Washington on Tuesday by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop-elect Monforton succeeds Bishop Daniel Conlon, who was named bishop of Joliet, Illinois, on May 17, 2011.
Jeffrey Monforton was born May 5, 1963, in Detroit. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, and a bachelor’s, licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University, Rome. He was ordained for the Detroit Archdiocese June 25, 1994, and was named a chaplain to His Holiness, carrying the title monsignor, in 2005.
After several assignments in various parishes in Michigan and as priest secretary to Cardinal Adam Maida, Monforton was named to the board of trustees of Madonna University in 2006.
For the 2005-2006 academic year, he also served as an apostolic visitator of the Congregation for Catholic Education, for the apostolic visitation of seminaries and houses of formation in the United States.
The Steubenville Diocese serves some 230,000 persons, with about 39,000 or 17% of them Catholic.
