ABOVE: Michael Izen, photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

FAIRMONT- This week Pope Francis named Fairmont native, Michael Izen, as a new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Izen would be one of two auxiliary bishops at the archdiocese who would assist the archbishop in administering Minnesota’s largest ecclesiastical district which is home to over 700,000 Catholics.

Izen was born in 1967 and is the youngest of six siblings. He grew up on Budd Lake Drive between Budd Lake and Lake Sisseton. As a child he enjoyed playing sports with friends in his neighborhood. Two of Izen’s siblings still live in the area; his brother Tom Izen owns Slumberland Furniture in Fairmont and his sister Ann Wehner works part time at Fairmont United Methodist Church while also being the organist for United Methodist and St. John Vianney Catholic Church.

“I can honestly say I loved growing up in Fairmont, it was a great town to grow up in,” said Izen.

He attended St. John Vianney Catholic School and Fairmont High School before studying computer science and mathematics at St. John’s University in Collegeville. After graduating in 1989 he worked at 3M for nine years as a systems analyst.

“When I was still in Fairmont … I was interested in the priesthood. I would play pretend mass at home, but by the time I was in junior high and high school it was too scary of a thing to pursue,” said Izen.

Izen said he felt a call to the priesthood while working at 3M and eventually quit his job to enroll at Saint Paul Seminary in 1998. After his ordination in 2005 he became a pastor at churches in Faribault, Maple Lake and Crystal before being assigned to Stillwater in 2015.

At Stillwater he’s been the pastor of the Churches of Saint Michael and Saint Mary, the parochial administrator of the Church of St. Charles in Bayport and the canonical administrator of Saint Croix Catholic school.

Izen received notice of his appointment while watching the highlights of a Vikings game with another priest. Initially he assumed the call coming from the pope’s representative in the United States was a telemarketer and declined the call. Upon hearing of his appointment he was very much surprised.

“I knew it was big and I feared he could possibly be asking me to be a bishop, … but quickly in this conversation I realized that was exactly why he was calling,” said Izen.

When asked what kind of bishop he wants to be Izen said he wants to be approachable, pleasant, a good listener and friendly while also being seen as a man of prayer. He said he had no further agenda or goals at this time.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Izen will help administer covers twelve counties in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Out of Minnesota’s six dioceses it has the largest population. Izen will work alongside fellow Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams and Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Izen’s official ordination will be held on April 11 at the Cathedral of Saint Paul.