Ralph Walker Nickless (born May 28, 1947) is an American prelate in 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 ...

. He 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 ...

of the

Diocese of Sioux City The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City ( la, Diœcesis Siopolitanensis) is the Roman Catholic diocese for the northwestern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The cathedral p ...

in Iowa since 2005.

Biography

Ralph Nickless was born on May 28, 1947, in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, one of ten children born to R. Walker Nickless, Sr. and E. Margaret (McGovern) Nickless. He graduated from Bishop Machebeuf High School in Denver in 1965. He then attended St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

. Nickless eventually went to 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.

Priesthood

Nickless was ordained a priest by Archbishop James Casey for the

Archdiocese of Denver The Archdiocese of Denver ( la, Archidiœcesis Denveriensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses northern Colorado. It is part of the XIII Conference Region and includes 113 parishes, 3 ...

on August 4, 1973. Nickless then served as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in

Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...

and as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the archdiocese.

Bishop of Sioux City

Nickless was appointed as the seventh bishop of Sioux City on November 10, 2005, by

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

. He was consecrated on January 20, 2006, at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Sioux City. Archbishop

Jerome Hanus Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B. (born May 26, 1940) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, presiding as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1995 until 2013. A member of the Order of Saint Benedict, Hanus served as ...

was the principal consecrator, with Archbishop

Charles Chaput Charles Joseph Chaput ( ; born September 26, 1944) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, serving from 2011 until 2020. He previously served as archb ...

and Bishop Thomas Tobin as the co-consecrators. On February 27, 2019, Nickless released a list of 28 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors, going back to the founding of the diocese in 1902. In October 2013, it was reported that the diocese had withheld information from parishioners regarding the arrest of Reverend John Wind five years earlier. During that incident, Wind was meeting with a female parishioner at a bakery. While there, he threatened to drop his pants and sexually assault the woman. After she called the police, they found Wind on a street corner half-naked. During his arrest, Wind punched an officer and was subdued with a

taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...

. Wind later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, was sent away for mental health treatment, and then returned to parish work. His parish was not notified of the incident. In May 2022, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 for bishops, Nickless submitted his resignation as bishop of Sioux City to

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. ...

Viewpoints

Health Care

In August 2009, Nickless stated that "the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care." Rather, he wrote,

" e proper role of the government is to regulate the private sector, in order to foster healthy competition and to curtail abuses. Therefore any legislation that undermines the viability of the private sector is suspect."

Contraception

In February, 2012, Nickless spoke during a

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

sponsored by the Family Research Council of Washington, D.C. In it, he characterized an

Obama Administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

initiative to require health insurers to provide

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

coverage as having been sponsored by "the power of evil," and called for "followers of the light" to "stand up and vehemently oppose this."

White Nationalism

On January 16, 2019, Nickless reacted to comments made by then US Congressman Steven King, calling them "totally inappropriate". King had defended

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

and white supremacy in public statements.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City Official Site

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickless, R. Walker 1947 births Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic bishops of Sioux City Clergy from Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver Religious leaders from Colorado Catholics from Colorado