Monsignor Jackels, 50, was named today to the post formerly held by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, who was sent to head the Diocese of Phoenix in December 2003.
Michael Jackels was born in Rapid City, South Dakota. His father was in the Air Force, and the family lived in various locations, including Spain.
After studying two years at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, he entered the Seminary-College of St. Pius X in Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor’s in philosophy, in 1977. He earned a master’s in theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, in 1981.
He was ordained in May 1981 for the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. From 1985 to 1989 he studied at the Angelicum in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in spiritual theology.
Returning from Rome in 1989 he was named director of the Office of Religious Education. He held others post before going to the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation in 1997.
The Wichita Diocese has 116,000 Catholics in a population of about 1 million.
