Bishop R. Walker Nickless

Bishop R. Walker Nickless was named the 7th Bishop in the 108-year history of  the Diocese of Sioux City on November 10, 2005. His selection as Bishop was one of the first appointments made by Pope Benedict XVI, following the death of Pope John Paul II.
 

Bishop Nickless was born in Denver, Colorado, one of ten children born to R. Walker Nickless and E. Margaret McGovern Nickless. He has four brothers and five sisters. His mother died in early 2006, shortly after her son’s ordination as Bishop.

Bishop Nickless was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Denver on August 4, 1973. Before his appointment as Bishop, then Monsignor Nickless served as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Lakewood, Colorado and as Vicar General of the Archdiocese. He was nominated as Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by Pope John Paul II in 1996. Bishop Nickless graduated from Bishop Machebeuf High School in 1965. He attended St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, the University of Denver and the Gregorian University in Rome.

When he received notice of the appointment in a phone call from Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Papal Nuncio in Washington, that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed him to be the Bishop for the Diocese of Sioux City, then Monsignor Nickless said he was surprised but very excited. “In addition to the immediate sensation of unworthiness, I consider it a great honor to come to serve the people of the Diocese of Sioux City,” said Bishop Nickless. “I want to be a good pastor, a good father, and a good Shepherd and intend to work very closely with the priests of the Diocese to do the work of the Lord.”

Nickless was formally installed and ordained as Bishop on January 20, 2006 in a ceremony at the Church of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in Sioux City. Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Archdiocese of Dubuque was the principal consecrator as the Dubuque Archdiocese is the metropolitan diocese for the state. The co-consecrators were Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput of Denver and Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island. Under the guidance of Bishop Nickless, a Strategic Planning Task Force was established in 2007. The bishop endorsed a five-year long range plan for the reorganization of parishes in October 2009. Later that month, Bishop Nickless distributed his first pastoral letter, Ecclesia Semper Reformanda (The Church is Always in Need of Renewal), throughout the diocese.