Joensen ordained as Roman Catholic Des Moines Diocese bishop

Sep 29, 2019

|Associated Press

Joensen ordained as Roman Catholic Des Moines Diocese bishop — In a file photo, the bishop’s miter and ring rest on a table during the 2016 episcopal ordination Mass of Bishop Steven J. Lopes at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Galveston-Houston. (Credit: Tom McCarthy Jr./CNS.)

DES MOINES, Iowa — Bishop William Joensen has been ordained as the 10th bishop to lead the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines.

The Des Moines Register reports that more than 1,500 parishioners witnessed the ordination Friday at St. Francis of Assisi Church in West Des Moines, the diocese’s largest. Pope Francis selected the 59-year-old Joensen, an Iowa native, to replace former Bishop Richard Pates, who retired after holding the role for more than a decade.

In his inaugural address, Joensen addressed young people, saying that “some of the Church’s actions in the past merit reproach” and that reproach of that by younger parishioners was to be expected. But he implored them to “be open to the wisdom passed down from generation to generation.”

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