Congratulations Bishop Cozzens

Pope Francis has named Bishop Andrew Cozzens the bishop of Crookston

After the other priests and bishops had processed into the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the processional hymn ended, Bishop Andrew Cozzens remained in the narthex, standing behind a closed door. He knocked on the door with a gavel — bang, bang, bang — and Archbishop Bernard Hebda opened it. Bishop Cozzens stepped into the cathedral, kissed a crucifix and took the aspergillum — the instrument for sprinkling holy water — to bless the congregation.

An early morning Holy Hour is the place seminarians living at The St. Paul Seminary can regularly expect to spot their housemate, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, said Deacon Connor McGinnis, a transitional deacon of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The bishop has lived at the seminary since 2018, and he quietly prays alongside the seminarians in St. Mary’s Chapel a few mornings of the week, Deacon McGinnis said.

In 2019, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected Bishop Andrew Cozzens to succeed Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles as the chairman of its Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. When he officially stepped into that three-year role in 2020, he inherited the leadership of a plan — then still in its earliest stages — for a National Eucharistic Revival, a nationwide initiative that aims to deepen Catholics’ love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

“A brother helped is like a strong city,” said Father Jeff Huard, senior spiritual director at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, quoting Proverbs to describe a need across the nation for bishops to lead in community building, especially for the priests of their dioceses, to keep them healthy and holy. Bishop Andrew Cozzens is one of the finest in this regard in the country, as is Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Father Huard said.

After Bishop Andrew Cozzens’ Mass of Thanksgiving Nov. 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, members of several religious communities of women offered him well wishes and received a blessing.

With students crowded before a stage at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul as part of Archdiocesan Youth Day in 2017, Father John Paul Erickson strode to a drum set at the back of the stage, Father Nick VanDenBroeke picked up an electric guitar, Father Joah Ellis headed to the keyboard and Father James McConville carried a stand-up base.

One of Bishop Andrew Cozzens’ earliest roles in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was serving as vicar for Catholic education, a post he took right after becoming an auxiliary bishop in December 2013. His passion for building up Catholic schools and their enrollments is evident to those who have worked closely with him.