ANTE CRUCEM NIHIL DEFENSIONIS
'Before the Cross There is No Defense'

Bishop Robert J. Carlson was installed as the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw on February 24, 2005 at the direction of Pope John Paul II. A native of Minneapolis, Minn., he was ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1970 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was later ordained as an auxiliary bishop for his home archdiocese on January 11, 1984 and went on to serve as Bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D., from 1994 to 2005.

Education: Earned a bachelor's degree for philosophy from St. Paul Seminary in 1966; earned a master's degree for divinity from St. Paul Seminary in 1976; and earned a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in 1979.

Other current appointments: Chair, USCCB Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry; Member, Canon Law Society of America; Board Member, The International Dominican Foundation; Board Member, Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, Mich,; Co-Chair of the Mission Advisory Committee, Institute for Priestly Formation, Omaha, Neb.; Chair, USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, 2005-2008; Board Member, Los Cabos Children’s Foundation; Board Member, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, Colo.; and President, Bishop's Advisory Board at the Institute of Priestly Formation in Omaha, Neb.