"What are we in business to do? It's to bring people to God," Grob said. "It's not a political party. It's not a political system. ... At the end of the day, how are we helping care for one another, lead others to faith? It's what it's all about."
Although Grob is a Wisconsin native, he's not particularly familiar with Milwaukee. What challenges will he surely face as he tries to bring people to God?
How large is the archdiocese now under Grob's leadership?
Milwaukee became what was known as a Catholic ecclesiastical territory in 1843, carved out of what was then the Archdiocese of Detroit. It became an archdiocese in 1875.
Today, it tallies 184 parishes and about 530,000 Catholics in its ranks, according to an archdiocesan census. Those numbers have been declining as parishes close and merge, and fewer people fill the pews.
Church officials say there's no precise count of practicing churchgoers. Thousands are on church rolls but only attend on special occasions; thousands attend but are not registered. Still, the numbers do serve as a general indicator.
The archdiocese covers 10 counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Dodge, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha. Grob will be assisted by two auxiliary bishops, Bishop Jeffrey Haines and Bishop James Schuerman.
Mainline Christian faiths are shrinking. How about Milwaukee Catholic churches?
In Milwaukee, as in cities across the Northeast and Midwest, the number of Catholics has declined substantially.
Some were driven away by the lingering horror — and coverup — of clergy sex abuse of children.
Others have diverging attitudes on issues like abortion, birth control, acceptance of LGBTQ+ couples, and the male-only church hierarchy, according to multiple studies.
Also, simply in terms of numbers, families aren’t as big as they were during, and before, the Baby Boom era. And with working parents who have children involved in multiple activities, people contend they don’t have enough time for regular Mass attendance or deep parish involvement.
Most recently, a sizable number stopped going to church during the pandemic, and then never returned, not for any strongly held ideological reason, but simply because they got out of the habit and apparently found they were fine without it.
What does the declining attendance mean?
The declining attendance has a domino effect: More buildings are underused or empty; costs to keep those buildings open are overwhelming; closing or combining parish operations is a complex and emotional undertaking; parishioners — especially those who have been at one place a long time — struggle with the change; and all of this often lands on the shoulders of a lone priest to manage.
A few years ago, Archdiocese of Milwaukee leaders asked local Catholic priests a simple question: “What keeps you up at night?” The top response: We have too many buildings. That reflected the strain they were experiencing.
What other issues face Grob?
The new archbishop will be called on to maintain Catholic schools' enrollment numbers, continue reaching out to Milwaukee's large poor and vulnerable population, and grow — or at least sustain — the number of quality young men enrolling in the seminary to become priests.
He also will continue deal with the fallout of the clergy sex abuse scandal. He has agreed to meet with representatives of victims, who feel the archdiocese has never been transparent or cooperative.
How did Grob's job in Chicago compare?
Grob was an auxiliary bishop in one of six vicariates, or regions, of the Chicago archdiocese.
Vicariate I, which he oversaw, had 51 parishes and missions, and 113,000 registered families, as of 2020.
His vicariate included Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Lake Forest, Mount Prospect, Mundelein, Schaumburg, and Waukegan.