Grob, 63, will succeed Jerome E. Listecki, who gave his notice of retirement on March 12, as bishops are required to do when they turn 75. Listecki has been Milwaukee's archbishop since 2010.
Ordained a bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago in November 2020, Grob (pronounced "Graab") will be installed as archbishop of Milwaukee on Jan. 14. Listecki will continue in his position until then.
"While still recovering from the surprise of the Holy Father's appointment, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to take up this new role in my home state," Grob said in a statement. "And trusting deeply in the Lord's goodness, I commit myself to the service of the people of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I am excited to get to know them and look forward to growing together in faith."
Once installed, Grob will face a range of issues: a shrinking Catholic population, empty and underused buildings, an ongoing need for more priests, and divisions over social and cultural issues. This year’s election season has exacerbated those social and cultural divisions, particularly the Church’s opposition to abortion, birth control, in vitro fertilization, and full LGBTQ+ acceptance. Grob will also be called on to maintain Catholic schools' enrollment numbers and continue reaching out to Milwaukee's large poor and vulnerable population.
Almost all mainline Christian faiths have seen precipitous drops in the pews, but the smaller presence of Catholicism is particularly evident in Milwaukee, where Catholic churches historically have anchored neighborhoods and acted as virtual community centers.
Today, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee tallies 184 parishes, a nearly 30% drop from 60 years ago, when a building boom was underway. It counts about 530,000 Catholics, a 23% drop over the same period. Increasingly, priests serve multiple parishes through collaborative arrangements, and more collaborations and mergers are expected in coming years.
Three of five state dioceses now led by natives of Wisconsin
The Milwaukee archdiocese covers Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Dodge, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha. There are five Catholic dioceses in Wisconsin; Milwaukee is the archdiocese because of its size and historical importance.
Once Grob is installed, three of those dioceses will be led by bishops who are Wisconsin natives.
The Madison diocese is led by Bishop Donald J. Hying, who is from West Allis, and the Superior diocese in led by Bishop James Powers, who is from Baldwin. The two other Wisconsin dioceses are La Crosse, under Gerard Battersby from Detroit, and Green Bay, under David Ricken from Dodge City, Kansas.
A native of the south side of Chicago and both a civil and canon lawyer, Listecki was the bishop of La Crosse when he was appointed to the Milwaukee position.
He became known as a straightforward communicator who reinforces church teachings and has good relationships with priests and parishioners.
As he headed toward retirement, Listecki said he took pride in boosting enrollment at the roughly 100 schools in the archdiocese.
He also touted the archdiocese's return to worship and in-person schooling after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the earliest in the country. And he said Mass attendance has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
This spring, nine men were ordained to the priesthood in Milwaukee, the most since 1992. The St. Francis de Sales Seminary is full, he said, with a total of 86 men studying, a sevenfold increase from when Listecki became archbishop, and there were 12 men in the seminary.
Listecki also led the archdiocese through a painful process of responding to victims of clergy sex abuse. In 2015, the archdiocese agreed to pay $21 million to compensate victims of abuse. That settlement allowed the church to emerge from bankruptcy filings. The period left some grateful to Listecki for turning the diocese around and putting it on the road to healing. It left others bitter and dissatisfied that the church had done all it could to be transparent.
Grob is a lifelong Badgers fan, a learned priest
Born in 1961, Grob went to St. Francis Xavier Grade School in Cross Plains, and Holy Name High School Seminary in Madison. He received his bachelor’s in religious studies from Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and his master’s in divinity from University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois. He has two doctorates: one in canon law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, and one in philosophy from University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1992 in Chicago, at age 31. In addition to two parish assignments, he held a number of leadership positions in the Chicago Archdiocese — assistant to the chancellor, associate vicar for canonical services, judicial vicar and chancellor. He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Chicago on Sept. 11, 2020, and ordained two months later.
His episcopal motto is "Jesus is the vine," which refers to the Bible verse, "I am the vine, you are the branches." Grob is said to be a lifelong Wisconsin Badgers football and hockey fan, and enjoys movies, German food and walking.
In his four years as auxiliary bishop, he has been the vicar – or leader – of churches in Lake County, Illinois, and portions of northern Cook County. That territory, known as a vicariate, includes Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect, Mundelein, Schaumburg and Waukegan.
Grob lives at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, the location of Mundelein Seminary, where some Wisconsin priests have studied. At a press conference Monday, Grob said he received the news of his move to Milwaukee on Oct. 15
He will be installed as the new archbishop by the papal nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre.