WASHINGTON — Father Paul Hartmann, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, has been appointed associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, effective in May.
In the post, he will serve as administrator of the USCCB’s pastoral offices and a member of the executive staff.
His appointment, announced Feb. 10, was made after consultation with the USCCB’s Executive Committee and with the permission of Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee, according to a news release.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1994, the priest has served as judicial vicar for the metropolitan tribunal in Milwaukee since 2003, along with assignments as pastor of various parishes and as president of Catholic Memorial High School, his alma mater, from 2007 to 2018.
He graduated from Jesuit-run Marquette University with a double major in communications and philosophy. He attended St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee, where he earned a master’s in divinity and has a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington.
“I am very grateful to Archbishop Listecki for allowing Father Hartmann to assume these new duties,” said Father Michael J.K. Fuller, USCCB general secretary, who made the appointment.
“Father Hartmann brings with him a background in communications, the practice of canon law and pastoral experience to carry out the priorities of the bishops under the leadership of Archbishop (José H.) Gomez,” USCCB president, Father Fuller said in statement. “He will be a great addition to the staff of the conference, and I look forward to working with him.”
Father Hartmann has served as chaplain to the St. Thomas More Lawyers Society of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin area’s Knights of Malta. A member of the Canon Law Society of America since 1997, he was elected to the organization’s board of governors.
In June 2017, Father Hartmann was appointed pastor of two Wisconsin parishes, St. Monica in Whitefish Bay and St. Eugene in Fox Point, while remaining judicial vicar.
