Blase Joseph Cupich

Styles of Blase Cupich
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor

Blase Joseph Cupich (born 19 March 1949) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He is the current Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane. He was installed as the sixth bishop of the Spokane Diocese on September 3, 2010.^[1]

Biography

Blase Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska, as one of the nine children of Blase and Mary (née Mayhan) Cupich. He attended the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from where he obtained his Bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 1971. He then traveled to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical North American College (earning his Bachelor's in Sacred Theology in 1974) and Pontifical Gregorian University (earning his Master's in Theology in 1975). Cupich was ordained to the priesthood on August 16, 1975, and then served as both associate pastor at St. Margaret Mary Church and instructor at Paul VI High School in Omaha until 1978.

Within the archdiocesan curia of Omaha, he served as director of the Office for Divine Worship and as chairman of the Commission on Youth from 1978 to 1981. He completed his graduate studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Cupich obtained his licentiate (1979) and later doctorate of Sacred Theology (1987) in Sacramental Theology, with a dissertation entitled: Advent in the Roman Tradition: An Examination and Comparison of the Lectionary Readings as Hermeneutical Units in Three Periods.^[2]

From 1980 to 1981, Cupich was an instructor of the Continuing Education of Priests Program and Diaconate Formation at Creighton University in Omaha. He then served as secretary of the nunciature to the United States until 1987. He was pastor of St. Mary Church in Bellevue from 1987 to 1989, President-Rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, from 1989 to 1996, and pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Omaha from 1997 to 1998.

On July 6, 1998, Cupich was appointed the seventh Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, by Pope John Paul II.^[3] Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Cupich currently serves as Chair of the Bishops' Committee on the Protection for Children and Young People and is a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Scripture Translation. He has served as a member of the Committee on the Liturgy, the Communications Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism. He is also a member of the Board of the Catholic Extension Society and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society. He has served on the Board of Trustees of St. Paul Seminary, as the Episcopal Advisor of the Serra Club, and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Pastoral Life Center.

On June 30, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Cupich bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane.^[4]

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