Roger Lawrence Schwietz

Roger Lawrence Schwietz (born July 3, 1940) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. Schwietz served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Anchorage in Alaska from 2001 to 2016. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota from 1989 to 2000.

Biography

Early life Roger Schwietz was born on July 3, 1940, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of a Polish-American tavern owner. He was baptized on July 21, 1940, and attended the parish of St. Casimir.

Schwietz attended the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a master's degree in philosophy. He later received a master's degree in counseling psychology from Loyola University Chicago. After his 1967 ordination, OMI assigned Schwietz to a pastoral assignment at a parish in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Returning to the United States, Schwietz spent the next several years working with OMI seminarians.

In 1975, Schwietz was appointed associate pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in International Falls, Minnesota. He left St. Thomas in 1978 after the OMI named him director of its college seminary program at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Schwietz received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, in 1998.

In a 2002 affidavit, Schwietz said that, as bishop of Duluth, he had approved a small settlement of under $100,000 to a former seminarian who claimed in the mid-1990s that he had been sexually abused by Bishop Brom, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and several priests. As part of the settlement, shared by the Diocese of Winona, the seminarian retracted all his charges.

Coadjutor Archbishop and Archbishop of Anchorage On January 18, 2000, John Paul II named Schwietz as coadjutor archbishop of Anchorage to assist Archbishop Francis Hurley. Schwietz was installed as coadjutor on March 24, 2000. A licensed pilot, Schwietz frequently flew his own plane to visit distant parishes.

On October 2, 2006, Guzmán Carriquiry Lecour, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome, met with Schwietz, who presented TEC to the curial dicastery. Schwietz also served as episcopal liaison to Region I of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Schwietz served as a consultant to the Liturgy Committee (1991 to 1994), member (1992 to 2004) and chairman (elected 1998) of the Vocation Committee, and member of the committee on the Laity (1995 to 1998) and chair of its Subcommittee on Youth (1993–1998).

Retirement and legacy In July 2015, when Schwietz reached the mandatory retirement age of 75, he submitted his letter of resignation to the pope. Pope Francis accepted Schwietz's resignation as archbishop of Anchorage on October 4, 2016. He was succeeded by Bishop Paul D. Etienne from the Diocese of Cheyenne.

On April 28, 2017, Schwietz was brought to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage with complaints of chest pain, later diagnosed as a heart attack. In late November 2017, he underwent successful heart valve replacement surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As of 2024, Schwietz was serving as archbishop in residence of St. Andrew's Parish in Eagle River, Alaska. In addition to his residence in Alaska, Schwietz owns a home in Fort Myers, Florida.

Episcopal succession