Talk:Ronald Hicks

Designate vs Elect

Back in 2011, the former admin Balloonman and Esoglou had an extensive discussion concerning Designate and Elect in regard to Charles J. Chaput appointment as Archbishop of Philadelphia. The discussion had a ton of primary and secondary sources supporting the use of "designate" for the incoming Archbishop. Esoglou argued that "designate" was an Americanism and shouldn't be used on an article about a Catholic Archbishop.

During the discussion Balloonman reached out to Archbiship Chaput who had one of his canon lawyers reach out to him to confirm that he is Archbishop Designate (see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Charles_J._Chaput&oldid=445078729 the discussion continued after this including the Cannon Lawyer chiming in), but that's the summary of his discussion with the Canon Lawyer).~2025-41516-12 (talk) 00:42, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

The above user is persnickety although correct.

"Bishop-elect" only refers to men who are priests and not yet ordained bishops. "Bishop-designate" is used when a man who is already a bishop is transferred to another see but has not yet taken possession of it. See page 2 of this document from the Diocese of La Crosse - - for a clearer explanation. Also see USCCB episcopal appointment announcements. They exclusively use the term elect in cases when the appointee has not yet been ordained a bishop.

Ultimately, this is a minor detail and will be wiped from the page after Hicks's installation ceremony in February. But since it has been edited out and back again a few times, it is worth weighing in and perhaps it will avoid this quibbling on other bishops' pages. Nmarshall25 (talk) 00:53, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

@Nmarshall25:

Hello,

In years past when I was creating/editing bishops, I would use "elect" for the newly created and "designate" for those who were transferred. Then one day I sent an email to then-archbishop Christophe Pierre about this and his reply was that there was no difference. But that didn't seem right to me, but who am I to judge him, so I used "elect" from there on out. In light of the discussion on Archbishop Chaput, I just may revert to my previous practice. I still have the email if anybody wants to see it. If there's a vote, then let me know...Roberto221 (talk) 10:14, 19 December 2025 (UTC)

Reference Title

A Bishop is addressed as “Your Excellency. An Archbishop is addressed as “Your Grace” or referred to as “His Grace.” ~2026-83354-6 (talk) 00:38, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Rating

I'm keeping this at a Start-Class article, but another 200 words and 2-3 more citations, and this would be a C-Class article. Bearian (talk) 18:55, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Image

The image there is not of Archbishop Hicks. Not sure who that is, but it definitely is not Hicks. ~2026-86874-9 (talk) 01:21, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I think the current image was definitely enhanced by AI for sure. Want to revert back to the original (although quite blurry) picture, but probably need a consensus. BaBaBa91 (talk) 22:10, 27 February 2026 (UTC)