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Andrew H. Cozzens
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Andrew H. Cozzens

Bishop of Crookston
Bishop
1968
1997
Ordained
2013
Consecrated Bishop
Crookston
Diocese
United States
Country
The Life

Andrew Harmon Cozzens was born August 3, 1968, in Denver, Colorado. He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, served with NET Ministries and the Companions of Christ, and entered the Saint Paul Seminary in 1993. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis on May 31, 1997. He earned a licentiate (2003) and doctorate (2006) in sacred theology at the Angelicum in Rome, writing on priestly spirituality, and returned to teach sacramental theology and direct liturgy at the Saint Paul Seminary.

Pope Francis named him titular bishop of Bisica and auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis on October 11, 2013; he was consecrated December 9, 2013. As auxiliary he chaired the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and, in June 2021, announced a three-year National Eucharistic Revival to renew belief in the Real Presence.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, on October 18, 2021, and he was installed as the diocese's eighth bishop on December 6, 2021, taking leadership of a small, largely rural northern-Minnesota diocese emerging from bankruptcy. As Bishop of Crookston he served as board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., which organized the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21, 2024. He is widely regarded as doctrinally orthodox and focused on Eucharistic devotion, and remains Bishop of Crookston as of mid-2026.

Major Works & Initiatives
Launched the National Eucharistic Revival
As USCCB evangelization-committee chair, announced in June 2021 a three-year grassroots revival to restore belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Chaired the National Eucharistic Congress (2024)
Served as board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., leading the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21, 2024, and the four-route National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
Chaired the Saint Paul archdiocesan TC task force (2021)
As auxiliary bishop, chaired Archbishop Hebda's task force studying implementation of Traditionis Custodes in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, where existing Extraordinary Form parishes were permitted to continue under status-quo faculties granted by Hebda.
Planning for Mission reorganization (2024-2026)
Introduced in October 2024 a multi-year restructuring of the Diocese of Crookston addressing declining attendance, aging facilities, and priest shortages.
In His Own Words
Controversies
No Crookston TLM policy on record
No Traditionis Custodes decree, ad orientem/altar-rail directive, or diocesan-approved Traditional Latin Mass site has been issued or designated by Cozzens in the Diocese of Crookston; the diocese does not appear in the main TC diocesan-response database, and there is no FSSP or ICKSP apostolate there. The record is thin, plausibly because the rural diocese had little or no diocesan EF presence to regulate.
SSPX chapel, not diocesan
The only Tridentine Mass locatable in the city of Crookston is at Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel served by the Society of St. Pius X, an irregular chapel not in canonical communion and not authorized by the bishop; it is not evidence of a Cozzens-approved TLM.
Nienstedt investigation
He took part in the 2014 internal probe of Archbishop Nienstedt, later calling it flawed for a lack of objectivity and experience with such investigations.
Domus Dei’s Verdict
The Bishop & the Mass of Ages
A mixed record

Bishop Cozzens is by reputation orthodox, pious, and relentlessly focused on the Eucharist. That focus, however, runs almost entirely through the Novus Ordo and the Eucharistic Revival he built; his personal record on the Traditional Latin Mass is thin, and what exists is neutral rather than warm. He has issued no Traditionis Custodes decree, no ad orientem or altar-rail directive, and designated no diocesan TLM site in Crookston. The diocese does not appear in the principal TC diocesan-response database, and there is no FSSP or ICKSP apostolate within it.

On the plus side for tradition: nothing indicates he has suppressed, capped, or moved any diocesan Latin Mass in Crookston, and there may simply have been little diocesan Extraordinary Form presence to regulate in this small northern diocese. As board chairman of the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress, his organization accommodated a Traditional Latin Mass in Indianapolis (offered by Archbishop Cordileone), which drew overflow crowds; he did not exclude it. His only direct link to TC enforcement is his earlier role chairing the Saint Paul study task force, where the actual status-quo faculties were granted by Archbishop Hebda.

The honest reading is a mixed, deeds-thin record. He is a friend of Eucharistic reverence and no enemy of traditional Catholics, but he is not a demonstrated patron or defender of the traditional Roman Rite. Absent any pro-TLM act of his own, and absent any hostile one either, he lands as a mixed record: an orthodox, Eucharist-centered bishop whose posture toward the ancient Mass is, so far, simply undocumented.

References & Further Reading
1.
Andrew Cozzens — Wikipedia contributors · Wikipedia · 2026Biography: birth, education, ordination, auxiliary and Crookston appointments, Eucharistic Revival, Congress board chairmanship.
2.
Pope Francis Appoints Bishop Andrew Cozzens as Bishop of Crookston — USCCB · usccb.org · 2021Primary appointment announcement, Oct 18, 2021.
3.
Status quo - for now: On Latin Mass, some bishops grant temporary permission while studying Pope Francis' decree — America Magazine · americamagazine.org · 2021Cozzens chaired Saint Paul TC task force; Hebda granted status-quo faculties to existing EF parishes.
4.
National congress sends forth Catholics as Eucharistic missionaries — OSV / Catholic News Herald · catholicnewsherald.com · 2024Verbatim Cozzens Congress quotes (opening and closing), July 2024.
5.
Traditional Latin Mass at National Eucharistic Congress draws enthusiastic crowd — Religion News Service · religionnews.com · 2024TLM (Cordileone) celebrated during the 2024 Congress; overflow crowds.
6.
United States (Traditionis Custodes) diocesan responses — traditioniscustodes.info · traditioniscustodes.info · 2023Diocese of Crookston NOT listed -- no recorded TC decree from Cozzens.
Portrait: Arbitrarily0 / Wikimedia Commons
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