George Kinzie Fitzsimons

George Kinzie Fitzsimons was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of Salina in Kansas from 1984 to 2004. Fitzsimons previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.

Biography

George Fitzsimons was born on September 4, 1928k in Kansas City, Missouri, to George K. and Margaret Mary Fitzsimons. The family worshipped at St. Francis Xavier Church and Fitzsimons its elementary school He then attended Rockhurst High School, followed by Rockhurst University, both in Kansas City. After his graduation, Fitzsimons worked in business. With the start of the Korean War in 1950, he enlisted in the US Navy. Between 1952 and 1953, he served as a naval aviator with U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron VP-49.
A short time after his discharge from the Navy in 1954, Fitzsimons decided to enter the priesthood. He began his studies at Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri.

Fitzsimons was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of the [Immaculate Conception (Kansas City, Missouri)|Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception] in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by Bishop John Cody on March 18, 1961. Over the years, the diocese assigned Fitzsimons as associate pastor in parishes, as well as a high school teacher and college chaplain. Bishop Charles Herman Helmsing eventually named Fitzsimons as chancellor and vicar general of the diocese.

On May 20, 1975, Fitzsimons was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph and titular bishop of Pertusa by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on July 3, 1975, from Bishop Charles Herman Helmsing, with Archbishop William Wakefield Baum and Bishop Joseph Vincent Sullivan serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.Fitzsimons also served as pastor of Christ the King Parish in Kansas City, Missouri.

Fitzsimons was named the eighth bishop of Salina on March 28, 1984. He was installed by Archbishop Strecker at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina, Kansas on May 29, 1984.During his tenure as bishop in Salina, Fitzsimons established an Office of Lay Ministry, with a director and an advisory Board, funded and initiated by the Catholic Church Extension Society in Chicago, Illinois, as well as a Rural Life Commission. He initiated the RENEW parish spiritual growth program. Due to a declining population and priest shortage, Fitzsimons was forced to merge several parishes. He erect St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in Hays, Kansas and St. Thomas More Parish in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1981.

After reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Fitzsimons resigned as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph on October 21, 2004. He then moved into the rectory at St. Patrick Parish in Ogden, Kansas. In 2008, his lower left leg was amputated due to a severe infection; he then used a prosthesis. Fitzsimons died at age 84 in Ogden on July 28, 2013.