Pope Appoints Msgr. Michael Jackels As Bishop Of Wichita, Ks.
WASHINGTON (January 28, 2005)—Pope John Paul II has named Monsignor Michael O. Jackels, a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln who has served for the past eight years at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as Bishop of Wichita. He succeeds Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted who was appointed Bishop of Phoenix in November, 2003.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.
Michael O. Jackels was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, on April 13, 1954. He studied at the University of Nebraska from 1972 to 1974 when he entered St. Pius X Seminary in Erlanger, KY, where he earned a BA in Philosophy. He studied Theology at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln on May 30, 1981.
Following ordination, Msgr. Jackels held various pastoral, teaching, and administrative positions in the Lincoln diocese. Among other assignments, he served as Director of Vocations, Director of Religious Education, Master of Ceremonies, Co-Vicar for Religious, in charge of the Hispanic Apostolate, and Chairman of the diocesan commission for Sacred Liturgy and Sacred Music.
From 1985 to 1989, Msgr. Jackels did post-graduate studies in Rome where he earned a Doctorate in Spirituality at the Angelicum.
For several years he was an advisor to the Committee on Priestly Formation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Bishop-designate Jackels has served at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since March, 1997.
The Diocese of Wichita, established in 1887, has a Catholic population of nearly 117,000 in a total population of about 959,000.