Duluth Bishop Reassigned as Cincinnati's Archbishop

USCCB press release:

Pope Names Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Duluth
Coadjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Duluth, Minnesota, 60, coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati.

The appointment as coadjutor bishop confers on Archbishop-elect Schnurr the right to succession to Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati. Archbishop Pilarczyk is 74.

The appointment of Archbishop-elect Schnurr, who is treasurer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was announced in Washington, October 17, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

Archbishop-elect Schnurr, a native of Sheldon, Iowa, was named Bishop of Duluth January 18, 2001, when he was General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, July 21, 1974.

Dennis Marion Schnurr was born June 21, 1948, and raised in Hospers, Iowa. He was educated in local Catholic schools and Loras College, Dubuque, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He studied for the priesthood at North American College and the Gregorian University, Rome, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Theology in 1974. He was awarded a Doctorate in Canon Law from The Catholic University of America in 1980.

After ordination to the priesthood, he worked in parish assignments and as vice-chancellor and chancellor of the Sioux City Diocese. In 1985, he was assigned to the staff of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, where he gave advice on canon law, monitored financial affairs and researched issues of interest to the church. In 1989, he was appointed Associate General Secretary of the United States Catholic Conference/National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB/USCC), where he supervised pubic policy departments and was principal staff person for an assessment and overhaul of the Conferences' budget and staffing procedures. In 1995, the bishops elected him General Secretary of the NCCB/USCC.

After being named a bishop, Archbishop-elect Schnurr served on the USCCB Administrative Committee and Executive Committee and was vice-president of the Priorities and Plans Committee, a member of the board of trustees of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., and on the Task Force on Promotions of Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life.

Archbishop Pilarczyk, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was ordained December 20, 1959, for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati where he was chancellor and on the faculty of St. Gregory Seminary. He was named Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati in 1974, and named Archbishop of Cincinnati, November 2, 1982. He holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Urban University, Rome, and a Doctorate in Classics from the University of Cincinnati. He served as vice-president of the NCCB/USCC from 1986-1989, and president from 1989-1992. He also served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs.

The Cincinnati Archdiocese includes 19 counties in Ohio. The total population of the archdiocese is estimated at 2,988,285 people, with 485,112 of them Catholic.