{"id":7609,"date":"2013-09-20T20:48:22","date_gmt":"2013-09-21T03:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/?p=7609"},"modified":"2013-09-20T20:51:27","modified_gmt":"2013-09-21T03:51:27","slug":"new-leader-of-st-cloud-diocese-feels-hes-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/new-leader-of-st-cloud-diocese-feels-hes-coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"New leader of St. Cloud diocese feels he’s coming home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kettler occasionally visited St. John\u2019s seminary, where he met Abbot John Klassen of St. John\u2019s Abbey \u201con a number of occasions.\u201d Klassen finds Kettler \u201copen, flexible, pastoral.\u201d They\u2019d talk about faith, but also about the \u201cvery down-to-earth, practical realities\u201d of managing a large diocese, Klassen said.<\/em><\/p>\n

New leader of St. Cloud diocese feels he’s coming home<\/strong><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s second-largest Catholic diocese has a new leader with Minnesota roots.<\/p>\n

Donald Kettler, of Fairbanks, Alaska, was introduced Friday morning as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud \u2014 a rural diocese with 131 parishes that serve about 140,000 Catholics.<\/p>\n

Kettler, 68, was born in Minneapolis and raised in Sioux Falls, S.D. He graduated from St. John\u2019s University, in Collegeville, Minn., with a degree in philosophy and earned a master\u2019s of divinity degree from its seminary in 1970.<\/p>\n

Coming to the St. Cloud diocese carries \u201ca little bit of a sense of coming home,\u201d Kettler said during a news conference Friday.<\/p>\n

As bishop in Fairbanks, Kettler tried to continue the visits to schools and nursing homes that come with being a pastor, he said, according to a video posted by the St. Cloud Times. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kettler will start in November. He succeeds longtime Bishop John F. Kinney, who is retiring at age 76. The St. Cloud diocese has been waiting for more than a year to find out whom the pope would pick to replace Kinney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been praying and waiting,\u201d said Father Ralph Zimmerman who has served the St. Cloud diocese for 37 years. \u201cWe are ready to welcome him with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of Kettler\u2019s work with the neighboring Diocese of Sioux Falls, Zimmerman said, \u201cmost of us know him already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kettler occasionally visited St. John\u2019s seminary, where he met Abbot John Klassen of St. John\u2019s Abbey \u201con a number of occasions.\u201d Klassen finds Kettler \u201copen, flexible, pastoral.\u201d They\u2019d talk about faith, but also about the \u201cvery down-to-earth, practical realities\u201d of managing a large diocese, Klassen said.<\/p>\n

As bishop of Fairbanks, a role he\u2019s held since 2002, Kettler oversees parishes spread over huge, sparsely populated territory, Klassen said. The Fairbanks diocese covers nearly 410,000 square miles, according to its website.<\/p>\n

Kettler\u2019s knowledge of Minnesota will help \u201cin a whole lot of ways,\u201d Klassen said. \u201cHe has a sense of the spiritual and pastoral landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kettler nabbed national headlines in 2008 when the Fairbanks diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to settle dozens of sexual abuse claims. \u201cI am legally and morally bound to both fulfill our mission and pursue healing for those injured,\u201d he told the Associated Press at the time.<\/p>\n

The diocese emerged from bankruptcy about two years later, according to the Catholic Anchor newspaper.<\/p>\n

Kinney, who served as bishop of St. Cloud since 1995, submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Benedict in June 2012. Catholic bishops are required by church law to submit their resignation at age 75.<\/p>\n

The process behind a pick is \u201ca local one, then a national one, then an international one,\u201d said Don Briel, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas. Pope Francis makes the final pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting to me is his age,\u201d Briel said of Kettler, who turns 69 in November. \u201cAfter a very long presence of a single person,\u201d he said, a shorter-term bishop could invigorate the diocese.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s announcement was long awaited. Parishes have been reciting a \u201cPrayer to Receive a New Bishop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your faithfulness, grant to the Diocese of St. Cloud a shepherd whose watchful care and kindly zeal will continue the good work of his predecessors,\u201d that prayer says.<\/p>\n

Because he was in the hospital, Kinney was unable to attend Friday\u2019s announcement. In a statement, he confessed to being \u201con edge about this day for I truly love this Diocese and I have been joyful at being your Bishop,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also know it is time, given my age and health, for a new and fresh Successor of the Apostles.\u201d<\/p>\n

View Entire Article and Comments… Here<\/a><\/p>\n

New leader of St. Cloud diocese feels he’s coming home
\nStarTribune
\nJenna Ross
\nSeptember 20, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kettler occasionally visited St. John\u2019s seminary, where he met Abbot John Klassen of St. John\u2019s Abbey \u201con a number of occasions.\u201d Klassen finds Kettler \u201copen, flexible, pastoral.\u201d They\u2019d talk about faith, but also about the \u201cvery down-to-earth, practical realities\u201d of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-kettler","category-john-klassen","wp-image-borders"],"views":391,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7611,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions\/7611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behindthepinecurtain.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}