Pope Names Pastor to be Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet in Illinois

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI named Father Joseph M. Siegel, 46, Pastor of Visitation Parish in Elmhurst, Illinois, as Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet in Illinois and titular Bishop of Pupiana.

Publication of the appointment was announced in Washington, October 28, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
           
Joseph Siegel was born July 18, 1963, in Joliet. He attended St. Meinrad Seminary College and then the North American College in Rome, 1984-1988. In Rome he attended the Gregorian University and the Angelicum University. He was ordained a priest for the Joliet Diocese in 1988. He earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1990, from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/ Mundelein Seminary.
           
Assignments after ordination included Associate Pastor, St. Isidore Parish, Bloomingdale, Illinois, 1988-1994; Associate Pastor, St. Mary Parish, Plainfield, Illinois, 1994-1998; Parochial Vicar, St. Mary Nativity Parish, Joliet, 1998-2000; Parochial Vicar, Cathedral of St. Raymond, Joliet, and Visitation Parish 2004 until now.
           
The Joliet Diocese includes 4,218 square miles. The total population of the diocese is estimated at 1,888,772 people, with 652,770, or 35 percent, of them Catholic.