2 priests to be auxiliary bishops
Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed two area priests to serve as auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
They are Milwaukee native Jeffrey R. Haines and Burlington native James T. Schuerman. They will be ordained bishops by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki within the next two months, according to the archdiocese.
Auxiliary bishops assist the archbishop in the pastoral and spiritual leadership of the archdiocese — teaching, leading, serving and celebrating the sacraments.
Listecki called Haines and Schuerman “men with a pastoral heart who have deep spirituality, and men who have the confidence of the priests and the people of the archdiocese.”
Haines, 58, was ordained to the priesthood in May 1985 and is rector and pastor of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee.
He was born in Milwaukee and grew up in New Berlin. He has served churches throughout the Milwaukee area, including St. Nicholas, Holy Redeemer and St. Eugene, as well as St. Frances Cabrini and Immaculate Conception/St. Mary’s in West Bend and St. Patrick in Whitewater.
“I am profoundly humbled by this calling,” he said.
Schuerman, also 58, was ordained to the priesthood in May 1986 and is serving as pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Geneva and as a supervising priest of Holy Cross Parish in Bristol.
He was born in Burlington and grew up in Lyons. He began his ministry in Milwaukee at St. Anthony Parish, then served as a missionary at the archdiocesan sister parish La Sagrada Familia in the Dominican Republic. He was on the faculty of St. Francis de Sales Seminary. He has also served at St. Andrew Parish in Delavan and St. Patrick Church in Elkhorn.
“I ask for prayers as I commit myself to this role of leadership and service,” he said.
Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Sklba has been serving as an auxiliary bishop since his retirement in 2010.
Recent auxiliary bishops in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee include Donald J. Hying, who served in that capacity from 2011 to 2014 and is now the bishop of the Diocese of Gary, Ind., and William P. Callahan, who served in that capacity from 2007 to 2010 and is now the bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse.