Pope Leo XIV has appointed a new bishop of the Diocese of Joliet in his first bishop appointment in Illinois.
Bishop Brendan J. Cahill will serve as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, running the church’s bureaucracy for around half a million Catholics in DuPage, Kendall and Will counties, making it the second-largest arm of the Catholic Church in Illinois.
Cahill has served as bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, Texas, since his appointment by Pope Francis in 2015, the diocese said. His installation Mass is scheduled for November.
In his home state of Texas, Cahill has prioritized mental health work, supporting immigrants and creating interfaith bonds with Muslim and Jewish leaders, he said at a press conference Thursday.
“I hope to be a shepherd that can walk with people and beside people, and lead people and follow people,” Cahill said.
Cahill will inherit a somewhat troubled church organization. The Diocese of Joliet was one of the epicenters of the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church uncovered in the early 2000s, a reputation that has continued to haunt the diocese in the decades since. More than 70 priests and religious brothers are on the diocese’s publicly available list of clerics deemed to have been credibly accused of abuse.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul slammed the diocese in 2023 for continued secrecy around the extent of child sex abuse by priests in the area. Former bishop Ronald Hicks refused to disclose how much the diocese had spent in settlements and other costs in response to child sex abuse accusations.
Hicks, who was installed as Joliet bishop in 2020, was also responsible for moving to close a number of churches and schools in the diocese as the financial fallout of the sex abuse scandal continued.
Hicks was appointed by Pope Leo as leader of the Archdiocese of New York — one of the most prominent roles in the Catholic church. He was formally installed in February.
At the press conference, Cahill didn’t address Joliet’s history of credible reports of child sex abuse or the financial difficulties the diocese has faced. He joked about becoming a Chicago Bears fan and looked forward to getting to know his new community.
“It is a big change,” Cahill said. “I have learned I’ll be a Bears fan. It’s a good time to be a Bears fan.”