Bishop of Fort Worth
Bishop Michael Fors Olson (Theological College Basselin Class of 1989) was born in Park Ridge, Illinois, on June 29, 1966. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fort Worth on June 3, 1994. Pope Francis named Olson the Bishop of Fort Worth on November 19, 2013, and on January 29, 2014, Bishop Olson was ordained and installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth. He succeeds Bishop Kevin Vann, whom Pope Benedict XVI appointed bishop of Orange, California, in September 2012. Bishop Olson has served as a community representative on the Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at the University of Texas Medical Center in Houston. He was a member of the formation faculty at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, and lectured at the University of Saint Thomas School of Theology between 2001 and 2006 and since 2008 until his appointment he was serving as the Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary. “I love being a priest, since my ordination,” he said. “I’m consoled that being a bishop means experiencing the fullness of the priesthood.”
Bishop of Springfield
Bishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski (Theological College Class of 1984), born in Baltimore in 1958, has been a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore for almost 30 years. On July 3, 2004, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore and Titular Bishop of Walla Walla by Pope John Paul II. At the time, he was the country’s youngest Catholic bishop in the nation’s oldest Catholic diocese. He selected as his episcopal motto: “Serve the Lord with Gladness.” Bishop Rozanski’s pastoral work includes positions on several committees, including as vicar for Hispanic Ministries (while in Baltimore), co-chairman of the Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic dialogue, consultant to the National Association for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and the National Committee for the Protection of Youth and Young People, and as chair of the Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee of the USCCB. He was named the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Springfield (Massachusetts) on June 19, 2014, and will start on August 14, 2014, succeeding Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell. He comments on his time in the Baltimore Diocese with gratitude: “The formation and guidance that I have received from the dedicated archbishops, bishops, priests, religious men and women and laity of this wonderful Church leave me humbled, yet hope-filled in answering the call to be Bishop of Springfield.”
Theological College prayerfully joins the entire Church in celebrating these new appointments, with best wishes for fruitful ministries ahead.