Edward Joseph Weisenburger was born in Alton, Illinois, on December 23, 1960, to Edward John Weisenburger and Asella (Walters) Weisenburger, the third of their four surviving children. His father was a military officer, and his mother a homemaker. Weisenburger grew up primarily in Lawton, Oklahoma, but as necessitated by following his father’s career, his family also lived briefly in Kansas and Texas. Following high school graduation, he attended Conception Seminary College in Missouri, graduating with honors in 1983.
He was then assigned to the American College Seminary at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium from 1983-1987, where he earned the Pontifical S.T.B. in Theology, an M.A. in Religious Studies and a Master's in Moral and Religious Sciences, M.MR.Sc. On December 19, 1987, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City.
Weisenburger served as parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in Ponca City from 1987 to 1990. He then attended the University of St. Paul in Ottawa, Canada, earning the pontifical J.C.L. degree in canon law in 1992. Upon his return home, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Adjutant Judicial Vicar. In addition to chancery and tribunal duties, he also did weekend parish and prison ministries from 1992-95 and served as an on-site chaplain for rescue workers in the weeks following the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
In the fall of 1995, he began 17 years of service on the Council of Priests and the Archdiocesan College of Consulters. He likewise served as a member of the Seminarian Board for 15 years. In June 1996, he was appointed Vicar General of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese. He was an officer with the Archdiocesan Tribunal for almost 20 years and served as Promoter of Justice for the cause of canonization of Blessed Stanley Francis Rother. On October 2, 2009, he was appointed a Prelate of Honor to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, with the title Reverend Monsignor. Weisenburger served as pastor of two Oklahoma parishes: Holy Trinity in Okarche (1995-2002) and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City (2002-12).
On February 6, 2012, Weisenburger was appointed the eleventh Bishop of Salina, Kansas, by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained and installed at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Salina, on May 1, 2012, with the Most Reverend Joseph Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City, presiding over the Liturgy and serving as the principal ordaining prelate. On October 3, 2017, Weisenburger was appointed Bishop of Tucson by His Holiness, Pope Francis. He was installed as the seventh Bishop of Tucson on November 29, 2017.
Bishop Weisenburger serves the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People and has previously served on the Committee for Migration and a Subcommittee of the Catholic Communication Campaign.
He currently serves as Episcopal Moderator for the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators (NACPA), is a member of Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary Board, and is a past Board Chairman of Catholic Rural Life.He enjoys Fourth Degree membership in the Knights of Columbus as well as the rank of Knight Commander with Star in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
Bishop Wesienburger was appointed the tenth Bishop and sixth Archbishop of Detroit by His Holiness, Pope Francis, on February 11, 2025. Archbisho-designate Weisenburger will be installed on March 18, 2025.
- Born: Dec. 23, 1960
- Ordained Priest for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Dec. 19, 1987
- Appointed Bishop of Salina, Kansas: February 6, 2012
- Installed as Bishop of Salina, Kansas: May 1, 2012
- Appointed Bishop of Tucson, Arizona: Oct. 3, 2017
- Installed as Bishop of Tucson, Arizona: Nov. 29, 2017
- Appointed Archbishop of Detroit: Feb. 11, 2025
- Installed as Archbishop of Detroit: Mar. 18, 2025
