Andrew H. Cozzens

Andrew Harmon Cozzens was born on August 3, 1968, in Denver, Colorado to Jack and Judy Cozzens.[1] He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, graduating in 1991.[2] During his time there, he helped found the college's pro-life student group, as well as a charismatic prayer group. In 1990, he was arrested several times for blocking access to abortion clinics and served several weeks in jail.[3][4] After a period of discernment, including a time of service as a missionary with NET Ministries in 1991 and 1992, he was accepted by the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity as a seminarian for the St. Paul archdiocese.

Cozzens was ordained a priest by Archbishop Harry J. Flynn in the fall of 1997 for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. He served as associate pastor at the Cathedral of Saint Paul from 1997 to 2000 and then at Divine Mercy Parish in Fairbault from 2000 until 2002. He earned an S.T.L. from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome in 2002 and began full time doctoral studies the same year. He earned his S.T.D. in 2008 with a dissertation entitled Imago Vivens Iesu Christi Sponsi Ecclesiæ: The Priest as a Living Image of Jesus Christ, Bridegroom of the Church, through the Evangelical Counsels.[5] From 2006 to 2013 he was an assistant professor of sacramental theology and director of liturgy at the Saint Paul Seminary.[6]

Coat of Arms as Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Cozzens was appointed titular Bishop of Bisica and an auxiliary for the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis on October 11, 2013, by Pope Francis.[7] He was consecrated a bishop on December 9, 2013.[8]

Cozzens was part of a team that investigated allegations of misconduct on the part of Archbishop John Nienstedt. He later said: "It was doomed to fail. We did not have enough objectivity or experience with such investigations. Nor did we have authority to act. Throughout our efforts, we did not know where we could turn for assistance, because there was no meaningful structure to address allegations against bishops."[9]

In response to the McCarrick scandal, Cozzens has advocated for a national review board made up of both clerical and lay members to investigate allegations of misconduct on the part bishops.[9]

From August to December 2018, he served as the interim rector for the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity after Msgr. Aloysius R. Callaghan retired on August 15 and before Fr. Joseph C. Taphorn began on January 1, 2019.

At the 2021 meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cozzens, as chair of the Evangelization Committee, announced a nationwide Eucharistic Revival to begin in 2022. He has obtained promises of financial support from Catholic donors, media organizations, and volunteers. He says that the revival will focus on small local units such as families. The organization will be in three levels: parish, diocesan, and the whole United States. He says that the goal is to foster new and existing devotion to the Eucharist.[10]

On October 18, 2021, he was named the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston. His was installed December 6, 2021.[11]

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston Official Site
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Official Site
• Catholic-Hierarchy