Wyoming Bishops History

Bishop Etienne was the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, succeeding the Most Reverend David L. Ricken who served the Diocese of Cheyenne from September 2001 to August 2008. On October 4, 2016, Bishop Etienne was named the Fourth Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska.

Bishop Etienne was pastor of St. Paul in Tell City, Indiana, and St. Mark in St. Mark. Bishop Etienne was born on June 15, 1959, as the second son to Paul and Kay (Voges) Etienne. Two of Bishop Etienne's brothers, Bernard and Zachary, are priests for the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana, and one of his two sisters, Nicolette, is a Benedictine Sister with Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana. Another brother, Richard, is married and lives in Newburg, Indiana, and another sister, Angela Etienne, lives in Evansville, Indiana.

He graduated from Tell City High School. Before entering college, he was Manager of Siebert's Clothing Store in Tell City, Indiana. He attended Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky (1983-1984), and graduated from the University of St. Thomas / St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. In 1986-1987 he served with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as Assistant Coordinator for Papal Visits for Pope John Paul II to the United States. From 1988-1992 he attended the North American College in Rome and received a STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Bishop Etienne was ordained a priest on June 27, 1992, for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. His first appointment was as Associate Pastor at St. Barnabas in Indianapolis and Associate Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. From 1994-1995 he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving his License in Spiritual Theology (STL).

Bishop David Laurin Ricken was born Nov. 9, 1952, to George William “Bill” and Bertha (Davis) Ricken in Dodge City, Kansas, the second of three children, including Mark and Carol. 

He attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Grade School in Dodge City, and St. Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas. He entered college at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, and graduated from Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri, in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He conducted his theological studies for the Diocese of Pueblo at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium where he earned his graduate degree in sacred theology and completed his seminary formation. 

He was ordained a priest on Sept. 12, 1980. His first appointment was as associate pastor to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pueblo. Five years later, he was named the administrator of Holy Rosary Parish in Pueblo and vice chancellor of the Diocese.  He attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he received his Licentiate degree (J.C.L.) in Canon Law (church law) in 1989. 

On Jan. 6, 2000, he was ordained to the episcopacy for the Diocese of Cheyenne at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II. During his tenure in the diocese, Bishop RIcken was one of the founding members of the Wyoming Catholic College. 

Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Ricken the twelfth bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay on July 9, 2008. 
 

The Most Reverend Hubert Joseph Hart 1978-2001

On July 1, 1976, Bishop Hart was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cheyenne and Titular Bishop of Thimida Regia by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following August 31 from Bishop Hubert Newell, with Bishops Charles Helmsing and Michael McAuliffe serving as co-consecrators. As an auxiliary bishop, he served as vicar general of the Cheyenne Diocese and pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Casper.

Following the retirement of Bishop Newell, Hart was named the sixth Bishop of Cheyenne on April 25, 1978. He was formally installed at St. Mary's Cathedral on the following  June 12, and selected as his episcopal motto: "Dominus Pars." 

During his tenure as Bishop, he established the annual Bishop's Appeal and ordained 25 priests for the diocese. He was an active member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and served as chairman of the bishops of Conference Region XIII, which includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, for six years. He retired on September 26, 2001, after twenty-three years as ordinary of the Cheyenne Diocese.

Hart was born to Hubert and Kathryn (née Muser) Hart in Kansas City, Missouri. His brother James was a priest of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and his sister Rosemary was human resources director for the Environmental Protection Agency. He attended St. Peter's Grade School (1936–1944) and Bishop Hogan High School (1944–1948) before studying at Rockhurst College and St. Meinrad Seminary.

Most Reverend Hubert Michael Newell 1951-1978

Hubert Michael Newell, native and a priest of Denver, was named coadjutor bishop of Cheyenne, with the right of succession, on August 2, l947, and he succeeded to the office of ordinary at the death of his predecessor on November 8, 1951.

Bishop Newell began publication of the Wyoming Catholic Register (April 11, 1952). In 1953, he persuaded the ladies of the long-existing altar and rosary societies to form the Wyoming Council of Catholic Women, a chapter of the national organization, with similar aims and functions as the Knights of Columbus. Bishop Newell promoted the Catholic Youth Organization, holding in 1959 its first state convention. He attended all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962, and after the Council quickly mandated the prescribed liturgical changes, and in 1974 began commissioning men and women as lay ministers of the eucharist.

In 1972, the diocesan presbyteral council recommended that there be a mandatory retirement of pastors and that the tenure of pastors and assistants be limited to a defined term, recommendations which, when put into effect, ended an era during which pastors remained in the same place for life. Bishop Newell set up a diocesan pastoral council and a board for Catholic education, the members of both elected by their deaneries.

Hubert Joseph Hart came to Cheyenne as auxiliary bishop in 1976, and in 1978 Bishop Newell resigned as ordinary, but remained as apostolic administrator until a successor was named.

 

Most Reverend Patrick Aloysius McGovern 1912-1951

The austere and formidable fourth bishop of Cheyenne was a native and priest of Omaha, Nebraska. Bishop McGovern held two synods, one at the beginning of his administration (1913) to introduce himself to the priests, and one at the end (1948) to introduce the new coadjutor bishop, Hubert Newell.

The further purpose of both synods, which included only priests, was to provide for the orderly government of clergy and people and to promote ecclesiastical discipline. At the 1913 synod, Bishop McGovern promulgated the decrees of the plenary councils of Baltimore and the statutes of the first synod of the diocese of Omaha to place the governance of the diocese on a regular juridical foundation. In 1941 the diocese of Cheyenne became suffragan of the newly created metropolitan province of Denver.

Similarly, the 1948 synod passed regulations regarding the conduct and duties of priests, administration of sacraments, conduct of liturgy, preaching and giving instructions, and the care of temporalities, all to accord with the 1917 code of Canon Law. Himself an orphan, Bishop McGovern was very much concerned about the plight of orphans in Wyoming, and he worked tirelessly to establish St. Joseph's Children's Home (1930) and to obtain Sisters to care for the orphans, eventually welcoming Franciscans Sisters from Wisconsin.

By 1990 St. Joseph's had become a home for troubled children and had a lay administration.
 

Most Reverend James John Keane 1902-1911

The third bishop of Cheyenne was raised in Minnesota and a priest of St. Paul. He came to Wyoming at a time when economic conditions were rapidly improving after a decade of depression. The population increased 60 percent between 1900 and 1910.

Newly opened irrigated lands and new methods of dry farming, increased coal and iron mining, timber cutting, and exploration of vast oil and natural gas reserves, attracted immigrants. Bishop Keane undertook the task of bringing order to the diocesan administration and incorporated the diocese according to the laws of the state of Wyoming. Pastors were instructed to incorporate the parishes, each to have a board, which included the bishop, the pastor, and two lay trustees.

Soon after its foundation in 1905, Bishop Keane appealed to the Catholic Church Extension Society which became a generous and never failing channel of funds for the benefit of the Church in Wyoming. Bishop Keane directed the building of a residence and a cathedral in Cheyenne, laying the cornerstone of the cathedral July 7, l907. On August 11, l911 Bishop Keane was named archbishop of Dubuque.

 

Most Reverend Thomas Mathias Lenihan 1897-1901 

Bishop Lenihan was the second bishop if Wyoming. He was born in Ireland and was a priest of Dubuque, Iowa. His poor health, exacerbated by the high altitude and dryness of Wyoming, severely restricted his activity and finally compelled him to return to Iowa where he died. Fr. Cummiskey was appointed administrator between l901 and l902 at which time Bishop Keane was appointed.

 

Most Reverend Maurice Francis Burke 1887-1893

Maurice Francis Burke, born in Ireland and a priest of Chicago, was the first bishop of Cheyenne (1887-1893). Upon his arrival in Wyoming, Bishop Burke found a diocese about the size of Great Britain, with 4 diocesan priests, a Jesuit priest and brother, 8 churches and 28 missions (soon to be 43), for about 450 families, or 7,500 widely scattered Catholics. There were 21 religious women: Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, who conducted an academy and school in Cheyenne, and Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who staffed a hospital and school in Laramie. Bishop Burke faced attacks against the Catholic Church by members of the American Protective Association ("Know Nothings"), whose hostility eventually obliged the Sisters of Charity to leave Laramie. Bishop Burke concluded that the diocese ought to be suppressed; but Rome rejected this proposal. In 1893 the diocese of Cheyenne was attached to the ecclesiastical province of Dubuque and Bishop Burke was transferred to the see of St. Joseph, Missouri. Fr. Hugh Cummiskey, pastor in Laramie, was appointed administrator of the diocese (l893-l897).