Florida Catholic | Biography :: Bishop Frank J. Dewane

Bishop Frank J. Dewane

On July 25, 2006, Bishop Frank J. Dewane was installed as only the second bishop of the Diocese of Venice in Florida. Three months prior to his ordination, on April 25, Pope Benedict XVI named him coadjutor bishop of the diocese.

To assume his new role as spiritual leader of 250,000 Catholics in southwest Florida, Bishop Dewane left his position as Under Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a post he had held at the Vatican since 2001. The primary responsibility of the Pontifical Council is to promote justice, peace, development and human rights worldwide. As Under Secretary, then-Msgr. Dewane was an official delegate of the Holy See to numerous international conferences and world summits.

Prior to his work on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Bishop Dewane served on the Pontifical Council Cor Unum for six years, from 1995 to 2001. Cor Unum is considered the charitable arm of the pope.

In 1991, Bishop Dewane first became a delegate for the Vatican when he was appointed to serve as a member of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York City. Prior to that he had been serving in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., as assistant pastor at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Green Bay.

He was born in Green Bay March 9, 1950, the third child of Eleanor and Ben Dewane, devout Irish-Catholics who owned and operated a dairy farm. St. James Parish in Cooperstown, Wis., was the center of community life for the Dewane family, which included four children. After high school graduation Bishop Dewane attended the University of Wisconsin where he earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences. He then earned a master’s degree in international administration from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Prior to entering the seminary, Bishop Dewane worked for the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in Moscow, Russia, and then for a subsidiary of PepsiCo in New York City.

He began his studies for the priesthood at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., where he completed one year of philosophy. He then studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. While in Rome, he also completed advanced studies in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

On July 16, 1988, Bishop Dewane was ordained to the priesthood and appointed to the Diocese of Green Bay as assistant pastor. He also worked for the diocesan Tribunal. Bishop Dewane currently serves on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on National Catholic Rural Life, which examines rural areas and determines what the church is doing to help. As a member of the Florida Catholic Conference, Bishop Dewane is Episcopal moderator for the Farmworker Justice Committee and the Immigration Committee for the Florida Catholic Conference.

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