Bishop Dale Melczek celebrates final Mass with Noll community as new Diocesan Bishop Donald Hying is announced
In the crowded gym flooded with students and staff ready to start their Thanksgiving holiday, junior student council representative Victoria Johnson gave Bishop Emeritus Dale Melczek a check for $1,000–and a hug.
The Bishop celebrated his final Mass with the Bishop Noll community on Nov. 25, just as Pope Francis announced his appointment of Donald J. Hying as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Even though it was an emotional farewell for the Bishop, Noll’s traditional Thanksgiving Mass still carried on. Melczek blessed the over 4,500 items of food donated to the St. Joseph soup kitchen and accepted the $1,000 check, which he will then donate to the Catholic Services Appeal for aid in Haiti.
His successor, Hying, was formally announced to position the day before the Noll community celebrated Mass, and will assume the position on Jan. 6. According to a Nov. 24 Vatican Radio article, Bishop Donald J. Hying was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, as the youngest son of six. He attended St. Aloysius and Immaculate Heart of Mary grade schools and graduated from Brookfield Central High School and Marquette University.
Currently, the bishop is working towards a Doctor Ministry degree from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary and has previously received his Masters of Divinity from the Saint Francis de Sales Seminary.
On May 20, 1989, Bishop Hying was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Bishop Hying has been an associate pastor for St. Anthony Parish, been a team member for La Sagrada Familia Parroquia, a temporary administrator of St Peter Parish, East Troy and much more.
In 2007, he became the rector of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, and in 2011, he was ordained as the seventh auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee where he served for three years.
As Bishop of the Diocese of Gary, Hying will oversee 72 parishes and about 185,000 Catholics.
“I am grateful to the Holy Father for his confidence and appointment, and I look forward to coming to know and love the People of God there,” Hying said in a statement released about his appointment.
The Noll community is excited to see what Hying’s presence will offer the Diocese, but is grateful for Melczek’s service to the Catholic school since his appointment in 1992. As Melczek exited the building after celebrating the Thanksgiving Mass, the students lined the halls to give him a loud and happy send-off to his retirement.