Bishop Peter F. Christensen
WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Peter F. Christensen, 61, of Superior, Wisconsin, as bishop of Boise City, Idaho, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, 75, from pastoral governance of that diocese.
The appointment was publicized in Washington, November 4, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Peter F. Christensen was born December 24, 1952, in Pasadena, California. He studied at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California, at the University of Montana in Missoula, at St. John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 25, 1985.
He served as associate pastor of St. Olaf Parish, Minneapolis (1985-1989), spiritual director/counselor of St. John Vianney Seminary (1989-1992), rector of St. John Vianney Seminary (1992-1999) and pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Parish, St. Paul (1999-2007). Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Superior, Wisconsin, on June 28, 2007. He was ordained a bishop on September 14 of that year.
Michael P. Driscoll was born August 8, 1939, in Long Beach, California. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 1, 1965, and ordained an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, California, on March 6, 1990. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Boise City on January 19, 1999.
The Diocese of Boise City comprises the entire state of Idaho and has a total population of 1,595,728 people, of which 175,530, or 11 percent, are Catholic. The Diocese of Superior comprises 15,715 miles in the state of Wisconsin and has a total population of 437,299 people, of which 72,809, or 17 percent, are Catholic.
View Bishop’s Nov. 4 press conference in Boise, Idaho. http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9715477/events/3542185
