Joliet native named auxiliary bishop
JOLIET -- The Rev. Joseph Siegel has been named an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Joliet by Pope Benedict XVI, the diocese announced.
"I was delighted to learn that Pope Benedict had named Father Joseph Siegel as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Joliet," Bishop J. Peter Sartain said in a statement.
"Father Siegel is a native son with deep roots in the city of Joliet and the entire diocese, and he has served a number of parishes with great love since his ordination to the priesthood in 1988. He is deeply respected by his parishioners and brother priests, and he will bring many gifts to this new ministry," Sartain said.
"I personally look forward to working in collaboration with him in the pastoral care of our people."
Siegel will hold the title of auxiliary bishop, meaning he will assist Sartain in the pastoral administration of the Diocese of Joliet.
"I was both humbled and honored when I received the unexpected news that Pope Benedict had named me to serve as auxiliary bishop of Joliet," Siegel said.
"I am deeply grateful to our Holy Father and Bishop Sartain and I pray that I will be worthy of the trust they have placed in me as I strive to be a faithful shepherd after the heart of Jesus."
It is an honorary title given to the bishop to remember in prayer those who have gone before us.
Siegel's titular diocese will be Pupiana, northern Africa, in modern-day Tunisia, near the ancient city of Carthage.
He was baptized at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus and attended the parish grammar school.
Siegel is the youngest of nine children. His parents, Francis and Marie Siegel, are deceased. His aunt, Sister M. Clotine Siegel, was a Joliet Franciscan.
He attended St. Charles Borromeo High School Seminary in Romeoville 1977-1980 and continued his studies at St. Meinrad Seminary College in Indiana, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in history in 1984.
He completed his seminary formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome 1984-1988, where he earned his baccalaureate in Sacred Theology cum laude from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1987, and continued his theological studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
He was ordained to the diaconate by William Cardinal Baum at the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City on April 14, 1988.
After ordination, Siegel completed his studies in systematic theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, earning a licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1990.
Siegel was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Isidore Parish, Bloomingdale; St. Mary Immaculate Parish, Plainfield; St. Mary Nativity Parish, Joliet; and the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus, where he also served as diocesan master of ceremonies.
He has been pastor at Visitation Parish in Elmhurst since 2004.
He has been director of Continuing Formation for Priests, a member of the Diocesan Vocation Board, the Priest Personnel Board and served as the dean of eastern Will County.
With the Catholic Conference of Illinois, he served on the executive committee as a priest representative and was chairman of the Catholics for Life Department.
He is chair of the steering committee for the Joliet Diocesan Year of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Congress and is a member of the Bishop's Respect Life Advisory Board. He is a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and a member of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
