Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Walter A. Hurley as the apostolic administrator of the Gaylord Diocese until a successor is named for Bishop Steven J. Raica, who was installed as the bishop of Birmingham, Ala., on June 23.

Bishop Hurley served as the bishop of Grand Rapids from 2005 to 2013, and has served the Catholics of Michigan in several temporary administrative roles since his retirement, most recently as the temporary administrator of the Saginaw Diocese from October 2018 until July 2019. Bishop Hurley was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1965, and was an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese in 2003 before his appointment as the bishop of Grand Rapids in 2005.