Bishop Paul J. Swain's Homilies and Statements   Bishop Paul J. Swain's Schedule       Bishop Paul J. Swain was ordained / installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Sioux Falls on October 26, 2006.             Bishop Swain's Biography
Bishop Paul J. Swain was born on September 12, 1943 in Newark, New York, located between Rochester and Syracuse. His parents are William (deceased) and Gertrude (Mohr) and he has six siblings (two deceased). He attended elementary and high school in Newark, graduating in 1961. He attended Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH, graduating in 1965 with a degree in History. In 1967 he earned a Masters in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin and later a Juris Doctorate from the same school.   From 1967 through 1972 he served in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Officer, including service in Vietnam where he earned a bronze star. He returned to Madison and after earning his law degree practiced law in Madison until getting involved in the campaign and administration of Wisconsin governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who served from 1979 to 1983. Bishop Swain served during those years as legal counsel and director of policy. After this he returned briefly to private practice.   Near the end of his service to Governor Dreyfus the first thought of priesthood came to him. Since he wasn’t Catholic this seemed unusual, but he took it as a prompting to take his faith more seriously. Private reading and studying and attendance at Mass led to more formal instruction and entrance into the Catholic faith in 1983. This proved not enough to dismiss the thought of priesthood and he began studying at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, Massachusetts. He completed his Master of Divinity and was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Madison on May 27, 1988.   His pastoral work began as associate pastor of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Sun Prairie. Over the years he also served as pastor of St. Mary of Pine Bluff, Cross Plains and St. Bernard Parish, Middleton, as rector/pastor of St. Raphael Cathedral, St. Patrick Parish, and Holy Redeemer Parish in Madison. His Madison diocesan appointments included service as Assistant to the Bishop, Vice Chancellor, Moderator of the Curia and Vocations Director. He was appointed Vicar General by Most Reverend William H. Bullock in October of 1996 and by Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino upon his arrival as Bishop of Madison in August of 2003.   He was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II and is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and the Knights of Columbus (former chaplain, University of Wisconsin Council). He is a past member of the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary Board of Directors.   Pope Benedict XVI appointed Paul J. Swain as the eighth bishop of Sioux Falls on August 31, 2006 and he was consecrated as bishop of Sioux Falls on October 26, 2006.   He currently serves as a member of the Saint Paul Seminary Board of Directors and is a member of the USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.   The Diocese of Sioux Falls is comprised of the counties in South Dakota east of the Missouri River, some 35,000 square miles of territory. Nearly 130,000 Catholics live here among the total population of over 500,000.