COURTESY THE DIOCESE OF NEW ULM
Archbishop Bernard Hebda welcomed news of Bishop Chad Zielinski’s appointment to the Diocese of New Ulm July 12, calling it “wonderful news for the Catholic Church in Minnesota.”
“I am grateful that Pope Francis has sent such a capable shepherd to lead our neighboring diocese,” Archbishop Hebda said in a statement the day the appointment was announced. He noted that he got to know Bishop Zielinski while leading the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan, where Bishop Zielinski was a priest, from 2009 to 2013. Bishop Zielinski was ordained bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2014.
He is scheduled to be installed in New Ulm Sept. 27.
“He was beloved in Northern Michigan for his preaching, his devout celebration of Holy Mass, his fidelity to the Church and his generous and pastoral heart,” Archbishop Hebda said in the statement. “In his time as Bishop of Fairbanks, moreover, he has exhibited a missionary zeal that never ceased to impress the priests and faithful of our Archdiocese when he would come here to garner support for his apostolic ministry in Alaska.”
Born in Detroit and raised on a farm in northern Michigan with four younger siblings, Bishop Zielinski, 57, was ordained a priest in 1996 for the Diocese of Gaylord. Prior to ordination, he served in the U.S. Air Force. As a priest, he ministered at three parishes, serving as pastor of two of them, and also ministered in the Diocesan Mission to Hispanics. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he joined the U.S. Air Force Chaplain Corps. He ministered in the United States and on combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.
When he was appointed Bishop of Fairbanks, Bishop Zielinski became the first active duty military chaplain in recent history to be appointed to head a Catholic diocese, according to a statement from Diocese of Fairbanks at the time. He was ordained a bishop by St. Paul-native Archbishop Roger Lawrence Schwietz of Anchorage, who had been serving as the Fairbanks diocese’s apostolic administrator. Bishop Zielinski succeeded Bishop Donald Kettler, who served as bishop of Fairbanks from 2002 to 2013 before being appointed to the Diocese of St. Cloud.
“I am most grateful to our Holy Father for entrusting me to serve as the shepherd of the Diocese of New Ulm,” Bishop Zielinski said in a statement from the Diocese of New Ulm. “As I leave the vast expanse of Northern Alaska, I am fully aware of the countless blessings I received from 46 parishes. The faithful of the entire Diocese of Fairbanks patiently helped form me to be the shepherd I am today.
“Our Native Alaskan brothers and sisters have opened my mind and heart to the cultural beauty and richness of their traditional way of life,” he continued. “I come to the Diocese of New Ulm with the same open heart and mind, eager to learn and encounter new blessings as I visit parishes and families in this beautiful prairie land of south and west-central Minnesota. Guided by the Holy Spirit, together we continue our journey of faith into a new era of peace filled with hope in Jesus Christ.”
With more than 580,000 square miles, the Diocese of Fairbanks is geographically the largest U.S. diocese, but is home to only about 11,500 Catholics, according to catholic-hierarchy.org.
Founded in 1957, the Diocese of New Ulm has about 48,000 Catholics in southwest and south-central Minnesota. According to the diocese, there are currently 59 parishes, served by 32 assigned diocesan priests, 17 permanent deacons, 13 Catholic elementary schools and three Catholic high schools. Bishop Zielinski will succeed Minneapolis-native Bishop John LeVoir, who led the Diocese of New Ulm for 14 years before retiring in 2020. Msgr. Douglas Grams, the diocese’s vicar general, has served as its diocesan administrator in the interim.
“I trust that he will build boldly on the firm foundation that has been Bishop John LeVoir’s legacy to the Church of New Ulm,” Archbishop Hebda said of Bishop Zielinski. “Please join me in both congratulating Bishop Zielinski and praying for him and for the faithful of the Dioceses of New Ulm and Fairbanks in this time of transition.”
Bishop Zielinski will be installed less than two months after Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and Word on Fire founder, whom Pope Francis has appointed to the Diocese of New Ulm’s southern neighbor, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. Those bishops join two other bishops relatively new to their Minnesota assignments: Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, who was installed in December 2021, and Bishop Daniel Felton of Duluth, who was ordained a bishop and installed in May 2021.
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