number of programs were established or expanded. In 1997 Soens requested a coadjutor bishop be named and on August 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II named Daniel DiNardo from the Diocese of Piitsburgh, and subsequently accepted Soens' resignation as Bishop of Sioux City was on November 28, 1998, with his coadjutor automatically succeeding him on that date. In 2004, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop DiNardo to the office of Coadjutor Bishop of Galveston-Houston in Texas. Roger Augustine was named the administrator of the Diocese of Sioux City. On Nov. 10, 2005, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed R. Walker Nickless of Denver as the seventh bishop of the diocese. His episcopal ordination was held on Jan. 20, 2006 at Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church in Sioux City. On Nov. 23, 2015, Bishop R. Walker Nickless granted permission to the Ministry Institute of Christ the Servant to identify as a Catholic institute. The Ministry Institute is affiliated with Briar Cliff University. In 2016, the Diocese announced plans to consolidate forty-one parishes due a shortage of priests and decreased attendance at Mass. Parishes being consolidated would become oratories for prayer services, funerals, and weddings but weekly Masses would not be held. Most of the parishes affected are in rural areas. With more priests reaching retirement age, the proposal is intended in part to reduce the workload of those left, that they remain healthy and not overworked. The Diocese of Sioux City is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. On October 31, 2018, it became known that the Diocese of Sioux City had for decades concealed sexual abuse committed by one of its priests, Jerome Coyle. Coyle abused at least 50 boys during his time in the priesthood, and reported his history of abuse to the diocese's bishop in 1986, who placed him on 6-month medical leave but did not report the admission to police or defrock him. Coyle was eventually forbidden to publicly function as a priest, although he remained formally a member of the priesthood and continued to collect financial assistance from the diocese while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The diocese did not notify anyone of his admission nor of allegations against him, and it did not take any further action against him. Bishops Bishops of Sioux City Philip Joseph Garrigan (1902–1919) Edmond Heelan (1920–1948) - Thomas Lawrence Noa (Coadjutor 1946–1947), appointed Bishop