Two new auxiliary bishops named for Archdiocese of Chicago

Chicago, Ill., Jun 13, 2011 / 15:29 pm

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed two Archdiocese of Chicago priests to become auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese.

“I am grateful to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, for his appointing two priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago as auxiliary bishops here,” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said June 13. “Both will bring their dedication to the Church and her people to the office of Bishop. They will make visible in their ministry the love of God for his Church.”

The bishops-elect are Fr. Andrew P. Wypych, pastor of St. Francis Borgia Parish, and Fr. Alberto Rojas, pastor of Good Shepherd Parish.

Cardinal George said that the Pope’s pastoral concern for the clergy, vowed religious and laity of the archdiocese is “clearly evident” in the appointments.

Bishop-elect Wypych was born in Kazimierza, Poland in 1954 and ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Krakow in 1979. He came to Chicago in 1983 and served as dean of Mundelein Seminary.

Bishop-elect Rojas was born in El Zapote de la Labor, Mexico in 1965. He studied for the priesthood in his native city of Aguascalientes, Mexico and in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1997. He was a member of the seminary formation faculty at the Chicago archdiocese’s Mundelein Seminary.

Bishop-elect Wypych will serve as liaison to Polish Catholics and as vicar for Vicariate V of the archdiocese. Bishop-elect Rojas will serve as liaison to Hispanic Catholics and vicar for the archdiocese’s Vicariate III.

There are about 2.4 million Catholics and almost 1,700 priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago, as well as 643 permanent deacons and 3,128 vowed religious.