WASHINGTON (December 3, 2001) -- Pope John Paul II has named Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of St. Louis to be Coadjutor to Bishop Richard C. Hanifen of Colorado Springs.

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

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

Michael J. Sheridan was born in St. Louis, March 4, 1945. He studied at Kenrick Seminary, St. Louis University, and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.

Ordained a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese on May 29, 1971, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Tibiuca and Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis on July 9, 1997. Bishop Sheridan was ordained to the episcopacy on September 3, 1997.

The Diocese of Colorado Springs was established on January 30th, 1984. It comprises 10 counties in the State of Colorado and has a Catholic population of about 87,000 in a total population of over 749,000.

Bishop Hanifen was born in Denver, June 15, 1931. Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1959, he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, July 10, 1974, and appointed first Bishop of Colorado Springs, Nov. 10, 1983.

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