The Coadjutor of Venice

The Holy Father has named Monsignor Frank J. Dewane to be coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Venice in Florida. The current bishop, Bishop John Nevins had already announced that he would be retiring next year.

Bishop-elect DeWane was born on March 9, 1950 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He attended public schools and obtained a BS in Social Science from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He later obtained a Masters degree in International Affairs from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC (with further studies at George Washington University, also in DC).

After an interesting career in the secular world, he entered Notre Dame seminary in 1983, studying philosophy, and then was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University and a License in Canon Law from the Angelicum.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Green Bay on July 16, 1988 and served as Assistant Pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Green Bay from 1989 to 1991 and Defender of the Bond for the diocesan Tribunal.

He was then called to work for the Holy See, serving at its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1991 to 1995, at the Pontifical Council Cor Unum from 1995 to 2001, and as Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace since 2002.

Bishop-elect Dewane knows Italian, Russian, French, and Spanish (Venice has a large population of migrant workers).

Ad multos annos.