Pope Leo bestows title of ‘monsignor’ on USCCB’s general secretary

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has bestowed the title of “monsignor” on Father Michael J.K. Fuller, general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, with the distinction of “Chaplain to His Holiness.”

“In his work, Fr. Fuller has demonstrated a pastoral heart, a theologian’s mind, and a worthy steward’s deft guiding hand,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, USCCB president, said March 10 in a surprise announcement about the honor for the priest during the USCCB’s Administrative Committee meeting in Washington.

Msgr. Fuller, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., has served the U.S. bishops for the last decade in a variety of roles at the conference, beginning in 2016 as the head of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Canonical Affairs and then in the offices of the General Secretariat since 2021.

Archbishop Coakley said that last fall, his predecessor as USCCB president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, along with Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, “desired to bring an awareness of the exemplary priesthood and work of Fr. Fuller to the Holy Father.”

“Together it was proposed that Fr. Fuller be duly recognized for his priestly life and his service to the broader Church as a seminary formator, a theologian, and as General Secretary,” the archbishop said.

Bishop Malloy was himself general secretary of the USCCB, serving a five-year term from 2006 to 2011.

Prior to his service at the USCCB, Msgr. Fuller was associate professor and chair of the Department of Spiritual Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Illinois from 2011 to 2016. He was also editor of the Chicago Studies Theological Journal from 2012 to 2016. From 2002 to 2016, he served as spiritual director and instructor for the diaconate formation program of the Diocese of Rockford and as instructor for the diaconate formation program of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Msgr. Fuller also served as instructor, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Christian Life (2002-2011) at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He taught at the Institute for Priestly Formation at Jesuit-run Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. (2004-2008); and was instructor in health care ethics at St. Anthony School of Nursing in Rockford (1998-2000). He also served as associate pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Loves Park, Ill. (1997-2000).

Msgr. Fuller holds a doctorate in sacred theology, a master of divinity, a licentiate of sacred theology and a bachelor of sacred theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Rockford Diocese in 1997.

Prior to entering seminary formation, Msgr. Fuller spent two years in the African country of Swaziland, now called Eswatini, as a Peace Corps volunteer. He has written extensively in numerous scholarly publications and is the author of two books: “Daily Prayer 2008” and “The Virgin Martyrs: A Hagiographical and Mystagogical Interpretation,” published in 2011.

The USCCB’s Administrative Committee, led by the conference president, is comprised of the USCCB’s officers, chairmen of the conference’s standing committees, as well as a representative from each episcopal region of the United States. The committee operates as the conference’s board of directors.

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