LA CROSSE, Wisconsin — La Crosse Bishop William Patrick Callahan has contracted COVID-19, according to a church official.
Monsignor Richard Gilles told the parish at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman during Mass on Sunday, that the 71-year-old Callahan is doing okay.
“Our dear Bishop Callahan has COVID, so we certainly want to pray for him. As I understand it, it’s with mild symptoms so we pray that it stays like that and doesn’t get any worse,” Gilles said.
According to the diocese, Callahan is “good spirits” and is isolating while being monitored by a medical team. He tested positive over the weekend, the La Crosse Tribune reported.
“I am grateful for the abundance of prayers and good intentions that I have received during this time. It is at times such as this that we are reminded that the Lord provides us with strength and is our salvation in times of distress,” Callahan said in a statement.
His diagnosis comes just a few weeks after the former leader of the diocese, Cardinal Raymond Burke, was hospitalized on a ventilator with the virus. Burke has since been released from the hospital and is at home rehabilitating.
