Cardinal Cupich’s Ever-Expanding ‘Coaching Tree’

The cardinal-archbishop of Chicago has profoundly reshaped the American hierarchy over the past 10 years and is poised to exert a lasting influence.

At an upcoming Mass in Manhattan, Bishop Ronald Hicks will become the 11th archbishop of New York. But during the Feb. 6 installation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Chicago native will also be the latest addition to another sort of lineage.

Archbishop-designate Hicks is set to become the fourth former deputy of Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich to be named to a major American see in just the past 13 months.

The three other prelates who fit the bill are Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee, Archbishop Michael McGovern of Omaha, and Archbishop Robert Casey of Cincinnati, each of whom was installed as an archbishop in 2025.

Along with Archbishop-designate Hicks, Cardinal Cupich promoted each to a key archdiocesan-wide position after his 2015 arrival in Chicago, like vicar general and chancellor; all but Archbishop McGovern went on to serve as one of his auxiliary bishops. And once the New York installation is complete, the four will account for more than 12% of all U.S. Latin Rite archbishops, the upper echelon of Church leadership in the country.

The significant number of new archbishops who have worked under and been elevated by Cardinal Cupich, a longtime member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops and one of the most progressive prelates in the country, underscores the considerable influence the Chicago cardinal has exerted on the U.S. episcopal landscape over the past decade.

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