Bishop David L. Ricken

David L. Ricken is Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

He attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Grade School in Dodge City, and St.
Francis Seminary High School in Victoria, Kansas; 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 theDiocese 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, by the Bishop of Pueblo, Arthur Tafoya, and 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.

In 1987, then-Father Ricken attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he received his Licentiate in Canon Law in 1989. Upon returning to the diocese, he was appointed the vocation director and vicar for ministry formation. After serving as diocesan chancellor, he was nominated
to be an official of the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican where he served through December 1999.

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 John Paul II. On Sept. 26, 2001, Bishop Ricken succeeded Bishop Joseph Hart as the seventh leader of the Diocese of Cheyenne. During his tenure in the diocese, Bishop 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.