Pope appoints Detroit priest as Bishop of Steubenville

Steubenville, Ohio, Jul 3, 2012 / 09:58 am

On July 3, Pope Benedict appointed Msgr. Jeffrey M. Monforton, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, as the new Bishop of Steubenville, Ohio.

The former rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit will fill over a year long vacancy left by Bishop Daniel R. Conlon, who was assigned as Bishop of Joliet, Ill. in May 2011.

The Diocese of Steubenville is home to nearly 40,000 Catholics in Southeastern Ohio as well as Franciscan University, the school that recently dropped its student health coverage rather than comply with the federal contaception mandate.

Bishop-elect Monforton was ordained in 1994 and studied at the North American College in Rome, where he received his Bachelors in Sacred Theology. After ordination, he earned his doctorate in from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.  

More recently, he served as rector of Detroit's Sacred Heart Major Seminary from 2006 until May 2012. For a short time leading up to his appointment as bishop, Msgr. Monforton was pastor of St. Andrew's Parish in Roshester, Mich. And serve the seminary as a part-time faculty member.

Before then, Msgr. Monforton served as personal priest secretary to Cardinal Adam Maida from 1998 to 2005. During that time, he traveled to the Vatican and was on site for Pope John Paul II's funeral Mass as well as the election of Pope Bendict XVI.

In addition to his work with the Sacred Heart Seminary, Msgr. Monforton has served in pastoral care for several parishes throughout Michigan and was named an Apostolic Visitor for the 2005 to 2006 Apostolic Visitation of U.S. seminaries.