Washington, D.C. – Pope Francis has named Father Steven Biegler as bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Father Biegler is a priest of the Diocese of Rapid City and currently serves as Vicar General and pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
The appointment was publicized in Washington, March 16, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Steven Biegler was born March 22, 1959 and is a native of Timber Lake, South Dakota. He attended the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City before earning a bachelor of arts degree from Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota. He also holds a bachelors of sacred theology degree (S.T.B.) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a licentiate of sacred theology (S.T. L., Scripture) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also in Rome.
He was ordained a priest on July 9, 1993.
Assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar, Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City, 1993-1994; administrator of Immaculate Conception Parish, Bonesteel,; St. Anthony Parish, Fairfax, and St. Xavier Parish, Ponca Creek, SD, 1994-1996; co-pastor of St. Bernard Parish, McLaughlin, with missions at St. Bonaventure Parish, McIntosh, St. Bede Parish, Wakpala, St. Aloysius Parish, Bullhead, Assumption Parish, Kenel, and (from July 2002), St. Michael Parish, Watauga, 1996-2003; director of Pastoral Formation and Pastoral Works, Pontifical North American College in Rome, 2003-2006; chaplain of the Rapid City Catholic School System and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Newman Club, 2007-2010; diocesan administrator, Diocese of Rapid City, 2010-2011; pastor of Our Lady of the Black Hills Parish, Piedmont, 2011-2015, vicar general, Diocese of Rapid City 2001-present; pastor of Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City, July 2016-present.
Steven Biegler has also served on the Diocese of Rapid City Spiritual Life Committee, 2007-2010 and most recently on the College of Consultors, 2009-present, as well as various other committees.
The Diocese of Cheyenne comprises 97,548 square miles in the state of Wyoming. It has a total population of 584,153 people, of which 55,336, or approximately 9.5 percent, are Catholic.