R. Walker Nickless

Nickless was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Denver on August 4, 1973.[2][1] Nickless then served as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Lakewood, Colorado and as vicar general of the Archdiocese.[1]

Nickless was appointed as the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City on November 10, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.[3] He was consecrated on January 20, 2006, at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Sioux City. Archbishop Jerome Hanus was the principal consecrator with Archbishop Charles Chaput and Bishop Thomas Tobin as the co-consecrators.[1]

In August, 2009, Nickless stated that "the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care." Rather, he wrote, "[t]he proper role of the government is to regulate the private sector, in order to foster healthy competition and to curtail abuses. Therefore any legislation that undermines the viability of the private sector is suspect."[4]In February, 2012, Nickless spoke during a webcast sponsored by the Family Research Council, where he characterized an Obama Administration initiative to require health insurers to provide birth control coverage as having been sponsored by "the power of evil," and called for "followers of the light" to "stand up and vehemently oppose this."[5]

On January 16, 2019, Nickless reacted to comments made by then US Congressman Steven King, calling them "totally inappropriate". King had defended white nationalism and white supremacy in public statements.[6]

On February 27, 2019, Nickless released a list of 28 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse, going back to the founding of the diocese in 1902.[7] In October 2013, it was reported that the diocese hid from parishioners that one of their priests, John Wind, had been arrested five years earlier. In 2013, while meeting with a female parishioner at a bakery, Wind threatened to drop his pants and rape the woman. Police later found Wind on a street corner half-naked. After punching an officer and being tased, Wind was arrested. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, was sent away for mental health treatment, and then returned to parish work.[8]