KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Paul J. Bradley and appointed Msgr. Edward M. Lohse as the fifth Bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo. The resignation and appointment were announced today by the Holy See in Rome.
Bishop-elect Lohse is currently the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Erie. Ordination of the new Bishop has been scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at St. Augustine Cathedral, Kalamazoo.
As required by Church law, Bishop Bradley submitted his resignation to the Holy Father when he turned 75, on October 18, 2020. Bishop Bradley, who has served the Diocese since his installation on June 5, 2009, will continue as Apostolic Administrator until Bishop-elect Lohse’s ordination.
“With thanksgiving to our Loving God and with deep gratitude to our Holy Father, Pope Francis, our Diocese’s wait for our new Shepherd has yielded a wonderful gift in the selection of Bishop-Elect Edward M. Lohse as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo,” said Bishop Bradley. “We welcome him with open arms and hearts filled with joy. May he walk with us, teaching us and leading us in the ways of hope-filled disciples of our Risen Lord.”
Bishop-elect Lohse was ordained a priest by the late Bishop Michael J. Murphy on April 21, 1989, at St. Peter Cathedral, Erie, Pa. His first pastoral appointment was as a Parochial Vicar for St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Corry, Pa. He was recognized by Pope Francis in 2015 as a Chaplain to his Holiness with the title Monsignor.
Throughout his thirty-four years as a priest, Bishop-elect Lohse has served in a number of pastoral, educational and diocesan assignments both for the Diocese of Erie as well as the Vatican. He has held administrative roles including Director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, Chancellor and Vocation Director for the Diocese. Additionally, he served as an Official of the Congregation for the Clergy (a dicastery within the Vatican curia) from 2010-2015 and was an adjunct member of the faculty (from 2011-2015) for the Pontifical North American College, Vatican City.
“I am both humbled and honored to be asked by the Holy Father to become the fifth Bishop of Kalamazoo, and I am grateful to Bishop Bradley for his support,” said Bishop-elect Lohse. “The task ahead is a daunting one, but none of us walks the path of faith alone. I know that I will need to count on the prayers of Bishop Bradley, the priests, religious and laity of the diocese, and I pledge my prayers for them in return. Together, we will go forward to proclaim Christ, and to meet him in the hearts of all God’s people in the Diocese of Kalamazoo.”
As Bishop of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Bishop-elect Lohse will be the chief shepherd of the close to 80,000 Catholics who reside in the nine counties of Southwest Michigan that make up the Diocese: Allegan, Barry, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch.
