.- The Vatican has announced that Father Alexander K. Sample, chancellor of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, has been appointed the new bishop of that diocese.
Simultaneously, Pope Benedict accepted current Bishop James H. Garland‘s resignation, having reached retirement age. The bishop is 74.
Bishop-elect Sample is originally from Kalispel, Montana and studied at the College of St. Thomas, now St. John Vianney Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.
He received a doctorate in Canon Law from the Angelicum in Rome. He has been a priest for the Diocese of Marquette since 1990.
The Diocese of Marquette, which stretches to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is spiritual home to some 68,000 Catholics, 100 priests, 28 permanent deacons and 70 religious.
