Michael Joseph Hoeppner

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Styles of Michael Joseph Hoeppner
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Michael Joseph Hoeppner (born June 1, 1949) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, from November 30, 2007, to April 13, 2021. After an investigation concluded that he had failed to handle an allegation of sexual abuse on the part of a priest as required, Pope Francis requested and received his resignation as bishop.

Biography[]

Bishop Hoeppner is a native of Winona, Minnesota, and comes from a background in parish work and administration coupled with teaching ministry.

Bishop Hoeppner undertook his theological studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy, and was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Winona on June 29, 1975, by Pope Paul VI at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.^[1]

He further continued his education and received a Licentiate in Canon Law from St Paul's in Ottawa. In addition to assignments within the Catholic school system, Hoeppner served as diocesan director of vocations. He served as Winona's judicial vicar from 1988–1997 and was later appointed vicar general by Bishop John George Vlazny.

Following Bishop Vlazny's transfer to the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, Hoeppner was elected as diocesan administrator to oversee the diocese until the installation of Bishop Bernard Harrington, who then appointed Hoeppner as his vicar general.

Bishop of Crookston[]

Hoeppner was appointed Bishop of Crookston by Pope Benedict XVI on September 28, 2007.^[1] Hoeppner was ordained and installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston on November 30, 2007.^[2]

Handling of abuse charges and resignation[]

In May 2017, Hoeppner became the first bishop to be sued individually for coercion. The lawsuit alleged he pressured a diaconate candidate, Ronald Vasek, to maintain silence about being sexually abused by a priest as a teenager in the 1970s. Vasek claimed Hoeppner's coercion was like "being abused all over again."^[3]

On September 20, 2017, a settlement was reached between Vasek and Hoeppner, who released the text of the letter Vasek was made to sign committing him to silence about the past abuse. Attorney Mike Finnegan said the letter proved Hoeppner's guilt in coercing the retraction of the abuse claim.^[4][5]

In September 2019, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced it would investigate Hoeppner's actions, the first such investigation of a bishop for failure to handled allegations of abuse as required under procedures Pope Francis established in the document Vos estis lux mundi.^[6] Following that investigation, Pope Francis requested Hoeppner's resignation. Hoeppner submitted it and on April 13, 2021, Pope Francis accepted it, naming retired Des Moines Bishop Richard Pates as apostolic administrator to manage the affairs of the Diocese of Crookston in the short term.^[7][8]

See also[]

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References[]

External links[]

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston Official Site