Pope gives Cincinnati new auxiliary bishop

Cincinnati, Ohio, Apr 6, 2011 / 09:52 am

Pope Benedict XVI appointed local priest Fr. Joseph R. Binzer as a new auxiliary bishop for the Cincinnati Archdiocese on April 6.

“I am honored and humbled that our Holy Father would make this appointment,” said Bishop-elect Binzer, who will serve as the archdiocese's first auxiliary bishop in four years.

The 55-year-old currently holds the positions of chancellor for the archdiocese and also serves as the pastor of St. Louis Church in downtown Cincinnati. He was introduced at a press conference Wednesday morning at the local Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains.

Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis M. Schnurr said at the conference that he was “very grateful” to the Pope for appointing Bishop-elect Binzer to assist him “in shepherding the archdiocese.”

He added that the new auxiliary “is an excellent administrator, but also a priest of great simplicity and compassion. His love of the Church shines through in his tireless service to the people of God.”

“He is extremely well respected by his collaborators at the Chancery, by the parishes he has served and by people in general,” Archbishop Schnurr said.

Bishop-elect Binzer, a Cincinnati native, was born in 1955 and eventually attended Miami University in Ohio to study accounting.

He worked for 11 years as a Certified Public Accountant before joining the seminary in 1988 to study for the priesthood. After attending Mount St. Mary’s of the West Seminary, he was ordained a priest for the Cincinnati archdiocese in 1994.

He earned a licentiate in Canon Law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and returned to Ohio to serve in local parishes.

Bishop-elect Binzer was appointed chancellor and pastor of St. Louis Church in 2003.

He will be ordained a bishop on June 9 at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati.

“I will do my best to continue to work under Archbishop Schnurr to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to the best of my ability,” he said.