WASHINGTON (July 6, 1999) -- Pope John Paul II has named Father Robert C. Morlino, Moderator of the Curia of the Diocese of Kalamazoo and Rector of St. Augustine Cathedral there, as Bishop of Helena.

Bishop-designate Morlino succeeds Most Reverend Alexander J. Brunett who was appointed Archbishop of Seattle on October 28, 1997.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.

Robert C. Morlino was born December 31, 1946, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He earned a BA in Philosophy at Fordham University in 1969, an MA in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame in 1970, and an MA in Theology at Weston School of Theology in Cambridge. He received a Doctorate in Moral Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome in 1990.

Father Morlino was ordained June 1, 1974 for the Society of Jesus, Province of Maryland, and on October 26, 1983, was incardinated into the Diocese of Kalamazoo.

Bishop-designate Morlino was Episcopal Vicar for Spiritual Development in the Diocese of Kalamazoo from 1981 to 1983, when he was named Moderator of the Curia. He was appointed professor of Moral Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit in 1990, and was named Rector of St. Augustine Cathedral in 1991.

The Diocese of Kalamazoo, established July 21, 1971, comprises nine counties in the State of Michigan. It has a Catholic population of about 115,000 in a total population of 912,000.

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