Background
Kettler, Donald Joseph was born on November 26, 1944 in Minneapolis. Son of Joseph and Marguerite Kettler.
Catholic priest Catholic bishop
Kettler, Donald Joseph was born on November 26, 1944 in Minneapolis. Son of Joseph and Marguerite Kettler.
Bachelor, St. John University and Seminary, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1966. Master of Divinity, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1970. Juris Canonici Licentiatus, Catholic University America, Washington, 1983.
He was the eighth Bishop of Fairbanks, and the fourth since the creation of the Fairbanks diocese in 1962. He currently serves as the ninth Bishop of Saint Cloud following his installation on November 7, 2013. He received undergraduate and divinity degrees at Saint John"s University in Collegeville before being ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1970.
In 1981, he entered the Catholic University of America, from where he obtained his licentiate in canon law.
Kettler was named judicial vicar of Sioux Falls in 1983, and resumed his work coordinating its diocesan offices from 1984 to 1987. During this time, he also began celebrating a weekly televised Massachusetts
After serving as rector of Saint Joseph"s Cathedral from 1987 to 1995, he was pastor of Saint Lambert Parish from 1995 to 2000, and of Christ the King Parish from 2000 to 2002.
On June 7, 2002, Kettler was appointed the eighth Bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska, by Pope John Paul World War II He received his episcopal consecration on the following August 22 from Archbishop Roger Schwietz, OMI, with Bishops Michael Warfel and Robert Carlson serving as co-consecrators. After a public announcement three weeks earlier, Bishop Kettler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following unsuccessful negotiations to settle dozens of sexual abuse claims, on March 1, 2008.
The Diocese of Fairbanks thus became the sixth diocese in the United States to go bankrupt.
Pope Francis named Kettler Bishop of Saint Cloud on September 20, 2013. He was installed as the ninth bishop of the diocese on November 7, 2013.
Kettler was also a member of the Sioux Falls Diocesan Finance Council, Stewardship Committee, Catholic Family Services"s Board of Directors the Association of Christian Churches of South Dakota"s Board of Directors, and a Board Member of the Sioux Falls Catholic School System.