The head of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has resigned. Pope Francis announced Wednesday he has accepted the resignation of the archbishop, the Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr. The Most Reverend Robert G. Casey has been named as his successor.
Casey has been serving as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He'll become the 11th archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
"I find myself excited to come to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and really accompany all of us on this journey in which we come to appreciate and share this wonderful treasury of faith that's been handed on to us," Casey told media Wednesday morning in Cincinnati.
Schnurr submitted his resignation in June 2023, when he turned 75, as required by church law. He's served as head of the Catholic church in Cincinnati since 2009. Prior to that, he was Bishop of Duluth from 2001 to 2008. He was ordained a priest of his home diocese of Sioux City in 1974.
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"It has been my great honor and privilege to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati these past 15 years," Schnurr said in a release.
Schnurr will stay on as Apostolic Administrator to help Archbishop-designate Casey settle into his new role.
"My intention in retirement is to remain in Cincinnati, and to help in any way our new archbishop deems appropriate. I am confident that he will find the local Church to be very welcoming and dedicated to the evangelization of our communities," said Schnurr.
The archbishop-designate has served as a priest for more than 30 years, according to his biography. He was ordained in Chicago in 1994 and became a Bishop in 2018.
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"It is with gratitude and humility that I accept Pope Francis' invitation to serve the present generation of faithful in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. I am profoundly grateful to Archbishop Schnurr for his kindness to me upon receiving the news of my appointment," Casey said. "As archbishop, my primary role will be one of discipleship. Entrusted with proclaiming the joy of the Gospel, I answer the call of Christ to accompany all in the archdiocese on the journey of faith, so that together we may deepen our love for God and neighbor."
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 45th largest Catholic diocese in the United States. The 19-county territory encompasses nearly 440,000 Catholics in 199 canonical parishes that were recently reorganized into 57 parish families.
In May 2024 the archdiocese announced Schnurr was being treated for stage 3 small bowel cancer and would undergo six months of chemotherapy. He fell in early February is recuperating from lumbar surgery.
Casey's installation hasn't been set while the church waits for Schnurr to recover.
Controversies
Schnurr led the church through a number of controversies, including the daylighting of sexual abuse by priests that continued unchecked for decades, and included some who worked within the Cincinnati archdiocese. A 2019 investigation by WVXU news partner WCPO found more than 50 Roman Catholic priests and brothers with ties to the Tri-State who had accusations of sexual abuse. (The Archdiocese of Cincinnati only encompasses churches in southwest and western Ohio.)
A list on the archdiocese's website names nearly 70 clerics (living and dead) associated with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati that have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse.
The Cincinnati chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released a statement to WVXU on Schnurr's resignation. The chapter's leader, Daniel Frondorf, says Schnurr was too much like his predecessor, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk.
In 2003, Pilarczyk appeared in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court as the archdiocese was convicted on five counts of failure to report crimes — specifically, the sexual abuse of children by priests. The archdiocese entered a plea of no contest. Pilarczyk made a public apology for what happened. The court case covered a period from 1979 to 1982, before he became archbishop.
"It seemed that Archbishop Schnurr always treated the clergy abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as a pesky nuisance, and that he only dealt with it because he had to, and when he did, he did so minimally. He seemed to consider those who sought to make the church and the world safer from people who would harm children as troublemakers for the church. The effect of this was that victims, survivors, potential victims, and church reformers were cast aside as if they were incidental casualties and inconvenient messengers," writes Frondorf. "We hope his successor will bring with him a more pastoral mentality that is focused on valuing people more than corporate success."
Casey himself was accused in Illinois in 2008. According to the Chicago Tribune, state investigators determined the claim was unfounded. The church completed a separate investigation, and Casey was reinstated.
Casey, via the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, issued the following statement Wednesday about the 2008 incident.
"In 2008, I was suspended from ministry for four weeks following a false allegation of misconduct against a child. As a consequence of this false allegation, I realize that I will have an asterisk next to my name for the rest of my life. There will be those that judge me because of this. When I said yes to this appointment as Archbishop of Cincinnati, I had to be at peace knowing that my call to serve the Church is greater than the asterisk. I want to assure everyone in the archdiocese that I am firmly committed to robust processes and procedures for maintaining safe environments in our parishes, schools and ministries."
Most recently Schnurr caused outrage and heartache in October of last year when he announced the archdiocese would cut ties with the Girl Scouts, citing the organization's stance on "sexual and gender ideology," which he called "an impoverished worldview regarding gender and sexuality."
Shortly after celebrating the archdiocese's 200th anniversary in 2021, Schnurr oversaw the launch of the Beacons of Light restructuring plan that saw thousands of parishioners forced to combine congregations into parish families. The move was needed, the church said, to deal with declining church attendance and the number of priests available.
More from Casey
Casey greeted media and took questions Wednesday morning at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. These responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
On migrant communities and working with federal immigration officials:
"I really come to two guiding principles that, I think, instruct how we live and move and have our being in all of this. The first being human dignity. As we've heard from the Pope and from others, we have to continually keep that in front of us — the dignity of all — and so that instructs how I look at the world around me, how I look at my my neighbors around me, with that sense of lifting up, their dignity. But the second piece of that is also faithful citizenship. It's that recognition that the church does not live outside of the state, but we are part of this country, and so we have to exercise faithful citizenship. We have to be partners. That's what I look forward to, is the church being able to be a partner with our neighbors in the care and the concern that we have for one another."
"What's important for our immigrant community is to understand their situation and understand their rights."
"This is not something new. ICE has been in existence, and ICE has come to our churches and schools in the past. Again, we have a relationship with the government. We don't live in opposition, but we live in partnership. It's about informing and educating our parishes and schools and agencies about how to proceed with asking for the warrant or understanding the purpose of the visit."
On being inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community:
"All we have to do is look within our own families, and we see that we are a very diverse family of God, and what needs to happen, I always think, is this ability to build bridges ... and to be people that seek to reach out and dialog and listen. It's the Pope's call to synodality ... How can we be a more synodal church where we are able to build those bridges, listen and dialog with one another, so that we can kind of move away from the polarization that's kind of defined us for too many years."
On if that means he would consider rolling back the recent cut with the Girl Scouts:
"I would have to become more familiar with that."
On his message to families worried about sex abuse, especially child sex abuse, within the church:
"I've personally walked with victim-survivors of abuse. I will say that we can never rest on the accomplishments that we have made as [a] church, which are many, because our church has come very far in its work towards safeguarding and creating safe environments. But we cannot rest on the past 30 years. We have to continue to be diligent and aware and continue to form and train our people properly."
On attracting parishioners back to the church:
"There's moments where we have to say, 'We're sorry.' There's moments that we have to say, 'Let's have an honest conversation because I think you misunderstood something.' ... There's a larger population, however, of those that have never been part of the church. ... We've done significant research into the Gen Z population and really have come to understand that while these young men and women might have been raised Catholic, might have gotten their baptism, their communion, their confirmation, they never truly felt as if they belonged. So it's not a question of bringing them back to the church. It's a question of bringing them to the church in the first place, giving them that entry point."
On the rise of Christian Nationalism:
"We're in a moment of secularization. This is not just a moment of challenge for one who might call themselves Catholic or Christian. It's the practice of the faith that people are moving away from. ... We need to see ourselves as partners. We need to work to build relationships, build bridges."
This news story has been updated.
