Pope Francis has named Bishop Edward M. Rice, 55, as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Bishop Rice has served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis since 2010. He succeeds Bishop James V. Johnston, who was appointed bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, September 15, 2015.
The appointment was publicized in Washington today by Msgr. Walter Erbì, chargé d’ affaires of the nunciature of the United States.
Edward M. Rice was born in St. Louis, July 28, 1960. He attended St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis and studied for the seminary at the archdiocese’s Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, January 3, 1987, and named a chaplain of his holiness with the title «monsignor» in 2008.
Following ordination he served as associate pastor, Our Lady of Presentation Parish, Overland, Missouri, 1987; associate pastor, St. Mary Magdalen Parish, St. Louis, and teacher at St. Mary High School, 1991; assistant to the director of Cardinal Glennon College (while continuing to teach at St. Mary’s), 1994; director of Cardinal Glennon College Program of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, 1995; pastor, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Louis, 2000; director, Office of Vocations, 2008; and interim director of the Office of Consecrated Life (continuing as vocations director), 2009.
The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau comprises 25,719 square miles in the State of Missouri. It has a total population of 1,353,859 people, of whom 65,978, or 5 percent, are Catholic.
