Daniel Henry Mueggenborg (born April 15, 1962) is an American prelate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who has been serving as

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

for the

Diocese of Reno The Diocese of Reno is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern Nevada region of the United States, centered on the city of Reno. The diocese is composed of 12 counties in Nevada. The See of Reno ...

in Nevada since 2021. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Seattle ''Formerly known as Diocese of Nesqually, 1850-1907.'' The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the U.S. state of ...

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

from 2017 to 2021.

Biography

Daniel Mueggenborg was born in

Okarche, Oklahoma Okarche ( ) is a town in Canadian and Kingfisher counties in Oklahoma, United States, that is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 1,215 at the 2010 census, a 9.5 percent increase from 1,110 at the 2000 census. History ...

, to Paul Bernard and Dolores Lucille (née Kerntke) Mueggenborg. He received his early education at the

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he attended mass and served as an altar boy. Mueggenborg belonged to the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

and received the

Eagle Scout Award Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

in 1980. Mueggenborg entered

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

(OSU) with to pursue a science degree. He later said that he was opposed to becoming a priest at that point. However, in the spring of 1981, he served at a mass in Oklahoma that was celebrated by Father Stanley Rother, a missionary serving in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. On July 28, 1981, Rother was murdered in Guatemala by a right-wing

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

. According to Mueggenborg, Rother's service and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

dom for the church inspired him to pursue the priesthood. After graduating from OSU in 1984 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in geology, he entered St. Meinrad Seminary in Saint Meinrad, Indiana. Mueggenborg then entered the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in Rome. As a seminarian, he worked alongside the Missionaries of Charity to serve the poor in that city. Back in Oklahoma for a summer, Mueggenborg volunteered as a hospital minister in

intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

s and cardiac wards at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa. He spent a second summer in Mugumu, Tanzania, working alongside Maryknoll Missionaries. Mueggenborg was ordained to the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

on April 6, 1989, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome; he was granted an audience the next day with

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

Priesthood

On July 14, 1989, Mueggenborg was ordained by Archbishop Eusebius Beltran to the priesthood for the

Diocese of Tulsa The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa ( la, Dioecesis Tulsensis) is a particular church of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in the Ecclesiastical province of Oklahoma City covering the eastern region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It ...

at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa. During his post-ordination year of studies in Rome, Mueggenborg served as a chaplain to the Missionaries of Charity convent at San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome; on one occasion, he celebrated a mass attended by the founder of the order,

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

. After returning to Tulsa, Mueggenborg served as a chaplain at

Bishop Kelley High School Bishop Kelley High School is an American Lasallian Catholic high school with 905 students, grades 9 to 12, located at 41st and Hudson Avenue, in the center of the Tulsa metropolitan area (in the Midtown area), on a campus spanning just over 47 ...

and as director of the

Newman Center Newman Centers, Newman Houses, Newman Clubs, or Newman Communities are Catholic campus ministry centers at secular universities. The movement was inspired by the writings of Cardinal John Henry Newman encouraging societies for Catholic stude ...

and professor of religion at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

. He was also pastor of two parishes in Tulsa and one in Bixby, Oklahoma. During a period in Rome, he assisted in seminary formation as vice rector of the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for Pri ...

. Additionally, Mueggenborg served on the boards of directors for Ascension Healthcare and Catholic Charities of Tulsa. Bishop

Edward Slattery Edward James Slattery (born August 11, 1940) is an Americans, American prelate of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, Diocese of Tulsa in Oklahoma from 1993 to 2016. Biograp ...

named Mueggenborg a

monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

in 2004.

Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed Mueggenborg as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Seattle on April 6, 2017. On May 31, 2017, he was consecrated by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at St. James Cathedral in Seattle.

Bishop of Reno

On July 20, 2021, Pope Francis appointed Mueggenborg as bishop of the Diocese of Reno, succeeding Bishop Randolph Calvo. Mueggenborg was installed on September 24, 2021. Bishop dan rose rite

Publications

Books * ''Come Follow Me. Discipleship Reflections on the Sunday Gospel Readings for Liturgical Year C'' (Angelwing Publishing, 2015) * ''Come Follow Me: Discipleship Reflections on the Sunday Gospel Readings for Liturgical Year A'' (Angelwing Publishing, 2016) * ''Come Follow Me: Discipleship Reflections on the Sunday Gospel Readings for Liturgical Year B'' (Angelwing Publishing, 2017)

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of RenoRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueggenborg, Daniel Henry 1962 births Living people People from Okarche, Oklahoma Oklahoma State University alumni Pontifical Gregorian University alumni University of Tulsa faculty Catholics from Oklahoma 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Bishops appointed by Pope Francis