Chad Zielinski

Chad William Zielinski (born September 8, 1964) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who is the fifth bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota.

[1] After finishing high school, Zielinski joined the United States Air Force (USAF).

[2] After his discharge from the Air Force in 1986, Zielinski enrolled in Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon, earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1989.

He continued his studies for the priesthood at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1996.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Bishop Cooney released Zielinski from the diocese to join the USAF Chaplain Corps.

[5][3] In a diocese in which only nine of 46 parishes are accessible by road, the clergy, including Zielinski, spend a large amount of time traveling to small remote villages in rough conditions.

Coat of arms as bishop of Fairbanks