William Henry Bullock
William Henry Bullock was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Madison in Wisconsin from 1993 to 2003.
Bullock previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of [Saint Paul and Minneapolis] in Minnesota from 1980 to 1987 and as bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines in Iowa from 1987 to 1993.
Biography
Early life
William Bullock was born on April 13, 1927, in Maple Lake, Minnesota. He attended Saint Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, where he received advanced degrees in religious education and liturgy.
Priesthood
Bullock was ordained a priest by at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota, by Archbishop John Murray on June 7, 1952, for the Archdiocese of Saint [Paul and Minneapolis|Archdiocese of Saint Paul]. He taught religion for several years and served as headmaster at Saint Thomas Academy, an archdiocesan high school in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. He held a pastoral position at Saint John the Baptist Parish in Excelsior, Minnesota from 1971 to 1980.
Bullock was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and titular bishop of Natchesium on June 3, 1980, by Pope [John Paul II]. He was consecrated at the Cathedral of St. Paul on August 12, 1980, by Archbishop John Roach.
Bishop of Des Moines
On February 10, 1987, Bullock was appointed bishop of Des Moines by John Paul II, succeeding Maurice John Dingman. He was installed on April 2, 1987. According to the diocese, Bullock established a policy addressing sexual abuse in 1988, created the St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter and St. Mary Family Center, and helped establish the Catholic Pastoral Center in Des Moines.
Bishop of Madison
On April 13, 1993, John Paul II appointed Bullock as the third bishop of Madison; he was installed on June 14, 1993. In 1995, Bullock made the controversial decision to close Holy Name Seminary, a private boys high school in Madison, Wisconsin, after he concluded that not enough of the graduates became priests to justify the cost of the school. He created an office of Hispanic ministry, and he authorized the construction of a social services center to help new immigrants and the poor. In the final years of his tenure, he created an eight-member sexual abuse review board of mostly lay people to advise the diocese.
Retirement and death
In 2002, Bullock reached the church's mandatory retirement age of 75, and on May 23, 2003, John Paul II accepted Bullock's resignation as bishop of Madison. Bullock died on April 3, 2011, of lung cancer in Madison.