by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Bishop Donald Kettler, 68, was installed as the bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud this week. He will be the ninth bishop to oversee the 131 Catholic parishes in the diocese.
Installation included solemn vespers, an evening prayer and an installation Mass, all held at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud. The Mass was by invitation only, but Kettler requested a lay representative from each parish attend.
Other invited guests included cardinals, archbishops and bishops in the United States, people from Fairbanks, Alaska and Sioux Falls, S.D. and other friends and family. Following the Mass, and the bishop’s blessing of the city and the diocese, an open-house reception with a receiving line to meet the new bishop was held.
The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women hosted an open house reception after vespers. Following the Mass, and the bishop’s blessing of the city and the diocese, an open-house reception was held at the Church of St. Paul in St. Cloud.
Kettler was born in Minneapolis, attended St. John’s Seminary and School of Theology in Collegeville and was a transitional deacon at St. Paul’s before being ordained a priest in 1970. He served parishes in Aberdeen, S.D. and Sioux Falls and was a bishop in Fairbanks.
Kettler replaces John Kinney, who has served as bishop for 18 years.
The new bishop’s mother, Marguerite Kettler, recently died in October at the age of 100.
