Press Release from the U.S. Bishops’ Conference:
Accepts Resignation Of Bishop Bruskewitz
WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop James Douglas Conley, 57, as bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska and accepted the resignation of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, 77, from the pastoral governance of the diocese.
The appointment and resignation were publicized in Washington, September 14, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
James Douglas Conley was born March 19, 1955, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was raised Presbyterian and converted to Catholicism during college at age 20. He pursued pre-theological studies at St. Pius X Seminary in Erlanger, Kentucky, and theological studies at Mt. St. Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Bishop Conley was ordained a priest in 1985 for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas and later earned a licentiate in moral theology and ethics at the Academia Alfonsiana, Rome. Assignments after ordination included work as an associate pastor and pastor, director of Wichita diocesan Respect Life activities and service at the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.
He was named a prelate of honor with the title monsignor in 1998 and ordained auxiliary bishop of Denver in 2008.
Bishop Bruskewitz was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1960 and has headed the Lincoln diocese since 1992.
The Lincoln diocese includes 588,641 persons, with 96,625, or 16 percent of them, Catholic.
