Gerald Lee Vincke

Gerald Lee Vincke (born July 9, 1964) is an American Catholic prelate serving as Bishop of Salina in Kansas since 2018.

Biography

Early life Vincke was born on July 9, 1964, in Saginaw, Michigan, one of 10 children of Henry and Fidelis Vincke. He attended New Lothrop High School in New Lothrop. After graduating from high school, Vincke enrolled at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. He received an associate degree in journalism in 1985 and a bachelor's degree of science in public relations and marketing in 1986.

After graduating from Ferris State, Vincke decided to become a priest. In late 1986, he started studying philosophy at Thomas More College in Crestview, Kentucky and theology at the nearby Athenaeum of Ohio Seminary in Cincinnati. Vincke then returned to Michigan to attend Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He graduated from Sacred Heart with a Master of Divinity degree in 1999. After his 1999 ordination, the diocese assigned Vincke as parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor. He left St. Thomas in 2001 to attend Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, to study spirituality. In September 2018, the Archdiocese of Washington announced that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick would reside at St. Fidelis Parish in Victoria, Kansas. Vincke explained his decision to permit the arrangement by a need to have mercy while pursuing justice. In his statement, he referred to Maria Goretti, a sainted girl who forgave her killer on her deathbed. In January 2020, it was announced that McCarrick, by then laicized, had moved to an undisclosed location.

In February 2021, Vincke assumed the additional responsibility of being apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Dodge City. Its bishop, John Balthasar Brungardt, was being investigated by the Vatican and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for allegations of child sexual abuse. On March 23, 2022, Bishop Brundgardt was cleared of the allegations and reassumed leadership of the Diocese of Dodge City.