Msgr. Rice named Auxiliary Bishop by Pope Benedict XVI

On Dec. 1, Pope Benedict XVI named the director of the archdiocesan Office of Vocations as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Bishop-designate Rice, 50, will be ordained to the episcopacy during a 2 p.m. Mass Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Bishop-designate Rice was informed of the appointment Nov. 4 in a meeting with Archbishop Robert J. Carlson. The news, he said, came as a shock.

“At first I thought he was joking,” Bishop-designate Rice said with a bashful smile. “I had this immediate knot in my stomach. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, where did this come from?’ I was in a daze. It was hard to comprehend what it was all about.”...

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Congratulations and prayers to Msgr. Rice!!!