matters including contraception in Catholic hospitals and its treatment of homosexuals and divorced people. Archbishop James Hickey of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC was sent to Seattle to gather information on behalf of the CDF. As a result of the CDF's findings, on December 3, 1985, Pope John Paul II appointed Donald Wuerl auxiliary bishop of Seattle with "special faculties" that included the authority to overrule Archbishop Hunthausen in several areas. This unusual arrangement proved unpopular among the people of the archdiocese, and Wuerl was replaced with Thomas Murphy on May 26, 1987. Murphy was appointed as coadjutor archbishop, and thus automatically became the archbishop with Hunthausen's retirement on August 21, 1991. Under Archbishop Murphy, the archdiocese saw an increase in registered Catholics and an increase in lay ministries and outreach for women and various ethnic groups. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in December 1996, and died on June 26, 1997. Father George Leo Thomas was appointed administrator of the archdiocese until the installation of Archbishop Alexander Joseph Brunett in December 1997. Brunett later appointed and consecrated George Thomas as auxiliary bishop, a post he held until his appointment as Bishop of Helena in 2004. Eusebio L. Elizondo Almaguer and Joseph J. Tyson were appointed as auxiliary bishops and consecrated in 2005; Elizondo still serves in that capacity, while Tyson departed in 2011 to become Bishop of suffragan see Yakima. Brunett served as archbishop until his retirement in 2011 and was succeeded by J. Peter Sartain. On April 29, 2019, Pope Francis named Paul D. Etienne, serving at the time as Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska, as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Seattle in anticipation of Archbishop Sartain's retirement. Etienne succeeded Sartain on September 3, 2019, when Pope Francis accepted his resignation. Bishops Bishops of Nesqually Augustin-Magloire Blanchet (1850–1879) Egidius Junger (1879–1895) Edward John O'Dea (1896–1907), title changed to Bishop of Seattle Bishops of Seattle Edward John O'Dea (1907–1932) Gerald Shaughnessy (1933–1950) Thomas Arthur Connolly (1950–1951), elevated to Archbishop Archbishops of Seattle Thomas Arthur Connolly (1951–1975) Raymond Hunthausen (1975–1991) Thomas Joseph Murphy (1991–1997; coadjutor 1987-1991) Alexander Joseph Brunett (1997–2010) J. Peter Sartain (2010–2019) Paul D. Etienne (2019–present; coadjutor 2019) Current Auxiliary Bishops Eusebio L. Elizondo Almaguer (2005–present) Frank R. Schuster (2022-present) Former Auxiliary Bishops Thomas Edward Gill (1956–1973) Nicolas Eugene Walsh (1976–1983) Donald Wuerl (1986–1988) appointed Bishop of Pittsburgh and later Archbishop of Washington (Cardinal in 2010) George Leo Thomas