USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Auxiliary Bishop Kicanas of Chicago Named Coadjutor of Tucson

Auxiliary Bishop Kicanas of Chicago Named Coadjutor of Tucson

WASHINGTON (October 30, 2001) -- Pope John Paul II has named Auxiliary Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Chicago to be Coadjutor Bishop to Bishop Manuel D. Moreno of Tucson.

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

A Coadjutor Bishop enjoys the right of succession which means that he becomes head of the diocese immediately upon the retirement or death of the incumbent diocesan bishop.

Gerald F. Kicanas was born in Chicago, August 18, 1941. He attended Immaculate Heart of Mary elementary school in Chicago, Quigley Preparatory Seminary, the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, IL, and was ordained April 27, 1967.

Bishop Kicanas received a Master's degree in religion and a licentiate in Sacred Theology from St. Mary of the Lake. He also earned a doctorate in Educational Psychology from Loyola University, Chicago.

After serving as an associate pastor for two years, he joined the faculty of Quigley Preparatory Seminary South. He became Rector of Quigley in 1978 and in 1984 was named Rector of Mundelein Seminary of the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

He was appointed Titular Bishop of Bela and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, January 24, 1995.

Established as a Vicariate-Apostolic in 1868 and erected as a diocese in 1897, the Diocese of Tucson comprises nine counties in 42,707 square miles in the State of Arizona. It has a Catholic population of approximately 304,000 in a total population of 1,348,000.

Bishop Moreno was born in Placentia, California, Nov. 27, 1930. Ordained in 1961, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, Dec. 20, 1976, and named Bishop of Tucson, Jan. 9, 1982.