The Pope has appointed Archdiocese of Milwaukee Auxiliary Bishop William Callahan as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse.

"I’ve never been in the City of La Crosse," Callahan said. "It’s beautiful! I love it! I love it very, very much."

When Callahan found out he’d been appointed the new bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse on May 31, he says he had to look at a map to see where he would be serving.

"So I said, 'Where, where is this?' 19 counties! I looked at the map and I looked at the thing on the map…it’s just gigantic," Callahan said.

But he says he’ll be sure to get to all of those counties once he finishes up his work as the auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which is where he worked with Jerome Listecki, the former Bishop of La Crosse and the current Archbishop of Milwaukee.

“He’s told me many good things about the diocese...exceptional things about our priests, wonderful things about our people, our parishes," Callahan said, adding that he’ll make faith formation his number one priority.

“We can encourage work and increase the heritage of our living faith and the ways in which we can profess it more clearly, beautifully in our daily lives," Callahan said.

The Director of School Financial Management for the Diocese, Mary Johnson says, "I mourned the loss of Bishop Listecki, but I can’t believe how lucky we are to get this bishop.”

"We were happy for that because sometimes they wait a year or two years to get someone in and this is great to have someone so soon," said Franciscan Sister Kathy Stuttgen.

Appointed Bishop Callahan says he felt a calling to be a priest in high school. He’s been a priest for about 33 years. He says being appointed the Bishop of La Crosse will give him an opportunity to work more closely with the people in the parishes than when he was in Milwaukee.

He says, "In short, I look forward to working with the priests, deacons, consecrated religion and all the lay faithful of the Diocese of La Crosse.”

Appointed Bishop Callahan will be installed on August 11th. Callahan says Monsignor Richard Gilles, the current administrator of the Diocese of La Crosse, will help Callahan in the coming months with the transition.

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From earlier today, 6/11/10:

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) -- Auxiliary Bishop William Callahan of Milwaukee will be introduced Friday as the new bishop of the La Crosse diocese.

As an auxiliary bishop, Callahan has helped the bishop in the spiritual leadership of the Milwaukee diocese; including teaching, leading and celebrating the sacraments.

Former La Crosse Bishop Jerome Listecki was installed at the Archbishop of Milwaukee early this year.

Callahan was ordained into the priesthood in 1977 by Milwaukee Archbishop William Cousins. He served congregations in Milwaukee and Peoria, Ill., and as spiritual director for the Pontifical North American College in Rome before returning to Milwaukee.