Paul J. Swain

After working in private practice for a few years, he served as legal counsel and director of policy for Wisconsin Governor Lee Dreyfus from 1979 to 1983.

[4] Swain then attended Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1988.

[3] His first assignment was as associate pastor of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Pope John Paul II named Swain a prelate of honor, allowing him the title of "Monsignor".

On March 14, 2005, while Swain was serving at the cathedral in Madison, it was torched by William Connell, a resident of Lodi, Wisconsin.

I honestly believe from other aspects of my life that God uses these moments that seem tragic to deepen our faith and to call us to be more profoundly who we are.

[8] Swain was consecrated on October 26, 2006, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls by Archbishop Harry Flynn, with Bishops Robert Carlson and William Bullock as co-consecrators.

On March 25, 2019, Swain released a list of 11 priests from the diocese with "substantiated allegations" of child sexual abuse from the 1940's into the 1990's.