Michael Owen Jackels
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Michael Owen Jackels is the eighth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, being appointed by Pope John Paul II on January 28, 2005, replacing Bishop Thomas Olmsted, the current bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona. He was ordained to the episcopate at the Church of the Magdalen in Wichita on April 4, 2005.
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[edit] Early Life and Education
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, on April 13, 1954, Bishop Jackels frequently moved as a child of a military family from Wyoming to Spain to California before settling in Nebraska to complete his secondary studies. Prior to joining Kentucky's St. Piux X Seminary in 1975, Jackels attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The bishop earned his B.A. in philosophy from St. Piux X in 1977, and in 1981, he completed his Master's in Theology at Mt. Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.[1]
[edit] Priesthood
Upon completion of his Master's, he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, by Bishop Glennon Patrick Flavin in 1981. His first assignment was serving as the associate pastor of the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, and he also served as a teacher at Pius X High School in Lincoln. From 1982-1985, Jackels was assigned to be the associate pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish on the campus of the University of Nebraska, and in addition to his teaching duties at Pius X High School, he also served as the assistant vocations director for the diocese during this period. In 1985, Jackels embarked on doctoral studies at the Pontifical College of St. Thomas in Rome, earning his doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1989.[2] His dissertation was a study of St. Catherine of Sienna.
Upon completion of his doctorate, he returned to Lincoln and for the next eight years served as the Diocesan Director of Religious Education, the Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, the Co-Vicar for Religious, and the Chaplain for the School Sisters of Christ the King. In 1994, Pope John Paul II honored Jackels by naming him a Prelate of Honor, earning Jackels the title of Monsignor.[3]
Monsignor Jackels returned to Rome in 1997 to work for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He remained in Rome until Cardinal Ratzinger informed him of his appointment to become the bishop of Wichita in January, 2005.[4]
[edit] Episcopacy
On April 4, 2005, Bishop Jackels was installed as bishop, consecrated by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas. Naumann served as principal consecrator rather than then-Papal Nuncio Gabriel Montalvo because Montalvo returned to Rome to participate in the funeral ceremonies of Pope John Paul II, who had died on April 2. (Jackels' former boss, Cardinal Ratzinger, was elected to the papacy and became Pope Benedict XVI a mere fifteen days after Jackels had received his mitre and crozier as bishop.) Among other bishops in attendance were Paul Coakley of Salina Kansas; Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, Kansas; Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska; Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona; and Eugene Gerber, bishop emeritus of Wichita. Because of the size of the crowd in attendance and because of the small size of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Jackels was ordained a bishop at the larger Church of the Magdalen.
Since assuming the cathedra, Bishop Jackels is committed to the conservative teachings of the Catholic Church, most recently joining the other three Kansas bishops in approving a pastoral letter opposing embryonic stem cell research. He has spoken against same-sex marriage and abortion, as well. Nevertheless, he is also committed to social justice--he opposes the death penalty and has written in the diocesan newspaper Advance in favor of just immigration laws. He also voted to approve language changes in the Mass to bring the English translation into a better accord with the original Latin at the June 2006 meetings of the USCCB in Los Angeles. In areas outside of doctrine, he is active in promoting Catholic education, and he has established the Drexel Fund which calls for donations to help financially-strapped Catholic schools within the diocese. The diocese also boasts 38 seminarians, one of the highest numbers of "seminarians per capita of Catholics" in the United States.
[edit] Trivia
°Bishop Jackels remains a die-hard Cornhusker fan, frequently joking the "N" on the football team's helmets stands for "[K]nowledge."
°He jokingly expressed interest in becoming the bishop of Honolulu when that diocese was vacant towards the end of his tenure at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
°Bishop Jackels was the second-to-last American bishop named by John Paul II. Only Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence (March 31) and Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois (March 15) were appointed by the late pope after Jackels.
