Sioux Falls gets a bishop

The Holy Father has named as the new Bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA), Monsignor Paul Joseph Swain, up to now Vicar General of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, and Rector of the Cathedral.

Bishop-elect Swain was born into a Methodist family. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Ohio Northern University in 1965, a Master of Arts in Political Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965, and then (after serving in the Vietnam) a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1974. He served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1971 as an Air Intelligence Officer and earned a Bronze Star. As a lawyer, he served as Legal Counsel, League of Wisconsin Municipalities and later as Legal Counsel to the Governor of Wisconsin, Lee Sherman Dryfus, from 1979 to 1983.

In 1982 he was received into the Catholic Church and in 1983 entered the seminary, attending Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, where he earned a Master of Divinity. He was ordained a priest May 27, 1988, and has served in various parochial and diocesan positions.