WASHINGTON (December 21, 2000) -- Pope John Paul II appointed Monsignor Richard E. Pates, pastor of St. Ambrose Church, Woodbury, Minnesota, as Titular Bishop of Suacia and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.

Richard Edmund Pates was born in St. Paul, February 12, 1943.

He attended St. Mark's and Nativity elementary schools and Cretin High School, St. Paul Seminary, and the North American College in Rome. He was ordained in St. Peter's Basilica, December 20, 1968.

Following ordination, Msgr. Pates was associate pastor, Blessed Sacrament, St. Paul, 1969-1970; archdiocesan vocation director and secretary to the Archbishop, 1970-75; and Vice-Chancellor, 1973-75.

Bishop-designate Pates served on the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, 1975-81.

He pursued graduate studies at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul in 1981 and later served as Director of St. John Vianney Seminary and archdiocesan Vicar for Seminaries and pastor of Our Lady of Peace, Minneapolis.

In 1997, subsequent to guiding the merger of two parishes, Bishop-designate Pates became the founding pastor of the new parish of St. Ambrose, in Woodbury.

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