Milwaukee Auxiliary Bishop William Patrick Callahan has been elected by the archdiocesan College of Consultors to serve as diocesan administrator of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In that role, Callahan will oversee the day-to-day activities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee until Pope Benedict XVI appoints a successor to Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, who was appointed Archbishop of New York February 23, and was installed April 15, 2009. Bishop Callahan was named Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee on October 30, 2007, by Pope Benedict XVI, and currently serves the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

“We have just completed a series of fond farewells for Archbishop Dolan and attended his joyous installation as Archbishop of New York last week,” Bishop Callahan said. “I am now humbled to have been elected by my brother priests to serve the faithful people of southeastern Wisconsin as diocesan administrator until the Holy Father sends us a new archbishop to be our shepherd.”

According to the Code of Canon Law (law of the Catholic Church), when a bishop vacates a diocese, an administrator is either named by the Holy Father or elected by the diocesan College of Consultors, a group of priests who advise the local bishop on diocesan matters.

Bishop Callahan is a Conventual Franciscan of the St. Bonaventure Province in Chicago. Callahan, 58, was born June 17, 1950, in Chicago. He attended St. Mary Minor Seminary in Crystal Lake, Illinois, 1964-1968, and Junior College, City of Chicago, 1968-1969.

Callahan continued his education at the St. Bonaventure Novitiate, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1969-1970; Loyola University, Chicago, 1970-1973; and St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, 1973-1976.

He was ordained to the priesthood on April 30, 1977, by Milwaukee Archbishop William E. Cousins. After ordination, he was assigned as Associate Pastor of the Basilica of St. Josaphat, Milwaukee, 1977-78; Director of Vocations for the Conventual Franciscans, St. Bonaventure Province, Chicago, 1978-1984; Associate Pastor of Holy Family Parish, Peoria, Ill., 1984-1987; and Pastor of Holy Family Parish, Peoria, Ill., 1987-1994. He served as Rector and Pastor of St. Josaphat Basilica, 1994-2005. In 2005, he was appointed Spiritual Director at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.