Bishop Ronald Hicks has always looked for ways to say “yes” to God, he told Chicago Catholic in 2018.

Named the next archbishop of New York on Dec. 18, it’s no surprise that he would continue along that path.

Archbishop-elect Hicks introduced himself to the people of the Archdiocese of New York at a news conference alongside Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has been archbishop of New York for the past 16 years.

He said this: “I realize there’s a lot of people out there who right now are trying to figure out, who is he? What does he stand for? The core of who I am and what I stand for — You should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor as myself. My desire is to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and to do the will of God, serving with a shepherd’s heart. I trust and I surrender my life and my will to God. And with great humility, I accept this appointment. I ask for your prayers and I ask for your support as we take these next steps together.”

Hicks, 58, has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Joliet since 2020. He became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago after in 2018, and served as vicar general of the archdiocese from 2015 until he moved to Joliet. He is to be installed as archbishop of New York Feb. 6, 2026.

Like Pope Leo XIV, Archbishop-elect Hicks grew up in Chicago’s South suburbs, playing baseball in the same parks and swimming in the same public pools and eating at the same favorite pizza place, he said.

Asked what message he thought Pope Leo was sending with the appointment, Cardinal Dolan said he believed the pope was looking for someone who loves and follows Jesus and wants to be a shepherd in the model of Christ. To that, he said, “I’d say, ‘Bingo. You did well.’”

Archbishop-elect Hicks has been praised by those who have worked with him as an able administrator with a heart for his people, especially the poor.

The morning Archbishop-elect Hicks’ appointment was announed, Cardinal Cupich released a statement saying: “Archbishop Hicks is a holy man with a heart for Jesus and the People of God. He will embrace the diversity of his new archdiocese and be an adept administrator.”

Archbishop-elect Hicks started the press conference in New York by telling assembled journalists that he is a Cubs fan and intends to remain so, but that he will also root for New York teams now, and that while he loved deep dish pizza, he already also loves New York-style pizza.

He thanked Cardinal Dolan for his welcome, his help and his advice as he gets to know his new home.

“New York is rich in energy, languages, cultures and people,” the archbishop-elect said. “As excited as I am to get to know the city and the archdiocese and all who call this home, I’m also very aware that these are complex and challenging times, especially as we face issues of life, faith and justice, peace and healing. Still, I feel the hope of so many who came to our shores through this very harbor here in New York, including my own family. I am committed to working with the great variety and diversity of faith leaders and civic leaders to keep that hope alive and to make real the promise of the golden door.”

The archbishop-elect was born in Harvey to parents Ron and Roselee Hicks, and he grew up in South Holland with his younger brother, Rick.

He attended St. Jude the Apostle School there, and was asked by Father John Boivin, the parish’s associate pastor, if he’d like to go to a summer program at Quigley South high school seminary in Chicago the summer between sixth and seventh grade.

“It was a weeklong program, but all it took was one day for him to come home and say, ‘That’s where I want to go to high school,’” Roselee Hicks, his mother, said 2018.

Hicks returned for the same program after his seventh grade year and enrolled at Quigley South for high school.

He went directly into Niles College Seminary with more than two dozen of his high school classmates, he said. While he was there, he met one of his dorm neighbors: Archbishop Robert Casey, who was ordained an auxiliary bishop with him in 2018, succeeded him as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and was installed as archbishop of Cincinnati in May.

After college, Hicks said he knew he wanted to be a priest, and he knew that if became a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, he needed to learn Spanish, so he spent a year living with and caring for children at the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage in Mexico.

That year changed his life, Hicks has said.

“Working with and being in solidarity with the poor — and also seeing people dedicated to this mission from the church — shows how we are all part of God’s family, and we all walk together,” Hicks said in 2018.

When he entered the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in 1990, he was sure of his vocation to priesthood, he said.

“I walked in very sure of that call,” Hicks said in 2018. “The diaconate, the priesthood ordinations, those were manifestations of that call that started a long time ago. When we were ordained to the priesthood, people tell me I was smiling, and I just couldn’t stop.”

After ordination, Hicks served as associate pastor at Our Lady of Mercy Parish for two years and at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, Orland Hills, for three years. From 1999 to 2005, he lived and ministered at St. Joseph College Seminary — as the archdiocesan college seminary was then known — at Loyola University Chicago as the dean of formation.

In 2005, Hicks received permission to move to El Salvador and return to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, this time as regional director for the organization’s Central American homes. Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos cares for orphans in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

When his five-year term ended, Hicks returned to seminary formation, this time as dean of formation at Mundelein. During his time there, he celebrated weekend Masses at St. Jerome Parish in Rogers Park.

For Archbishop-elect Hicks, his ordination as a bishop did not mean an immediate change in his day-to-day ministry, as he continued as vicar general for the next two years.

He became the sixth bishop of the neighboring Diocese of Joliet on Sept. 29, 2020.

As he introduced himself to his new flock, Archbishop-elect Hicks spoke briefly in Spanish, mentioning friends and loved ones in and from Latin America, and quoting a Spanish song about “walking together as brothers and sisters.”

“I speak Spanish,” he said. “But it’s more than that. I was really formed by the Latino church, and I have a great heart for the Latino community. And so we have someone who not only speaks Spanish but understands that this community is a vital part of the church. And I think what you’re going to see is that I love all people.”

That will inform his leadership, he said, adding, “I’m just looking forward to doing it in the spirit of great collaboration, in communities of love.”

Bishop Ronald Hicks has always looked for ways to say “yes” to God, he told Chicago Catholic in 2018.

Named the next archbishop of New York on Dec. 18, it’s no surprise that he would continue along that path.

Archbishop-elect Hicks introduced himself to the people of the Archdiocese of New York at a news conference alongside Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has been archbishop of New York for the past 16 years.

He said this: “I realize there’s a lot of people out there who right now are trying to figure out, who is he? What does he stand for? The core of who I am and what I stand for — You should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor as myself. My desire is to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and to do the will of God, serving with a shepherd’s heart. I trust and I surrender my life and my will to God. And with great humility, I accept this appointment. I ask for your prayers and I ask for your support as we take these next steps together.”

Hicks, 58, has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Joliet since 2020. He became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago after in 2018, and served as vicar general of the archdiocese from 2015 until he moved to Joliet. He is to be installed as archbishop of New York Feb. 6, 2026.

Like Pope Leo XIV, Archbishop-elect Hicks grew up in Chicago’s South suburbs, playing baseball in the same parks and swimming in the same public pools and eating at the same favorite pizza place, he said.

Asked what message he thought Pope Leo was sending with the appointment, Cardinal Dolan said he believed the pope was looking for someone who loves and follows Jesus and wants to be a shepherd in the model of Christ. To that, he said, “I’d say, ‘Bingo. You did well.’”

Archbishop-elect Hicks has been praised by those who have worked with him as an able administrator with a heart for his people, especially the poor.

The morning Archbishop-elect Hicks’ appointment was announed, Cardinal Cupich released a statement saying: “Archbishop Hicks is a holy man with a heart for Jesus and the People of God. He will embrace the diversity of his new archdiocese and be an adept administrator.”

Archbishop-elect Hicks started the press conference in New York by telling assembled journalists that he is a Cubs fan and intends to remain so, but that he will also root for New York teams now, and that while he loved deep dish pizza, he already also loves New York-style pizza.

He thanked Cardinal Dolan for his welcome, his help and his advice as he gets to know his new home.

“New York is rich in energy, languages, cultures and people,” the archbishop-elect said. “As excited as I am to get to know the city and the archdiocese and all who call this home, I’m also very aware that these are complex and challenging times, especially as we face issues of life, faith and justice, peace and healing. Still, I feel the hope of so many who came to our shores through this very harbor here in New York, including my own family. I am committed to working with the great variety and diversity of faith leaders and civic leaders to keep that hope alive and to make real the promise of the golden door.”

The archbishop-elect was born in Harvey to parents Ron and Roselee Hicks, and he grew up in South Holland with his younger brother, Rick.

He attended St. Jude the Apostle School there, and was asked by Father John Boivin, the parish’s associate pastor, if he’d like to go to a summer program at Quigley South high school seminary in Chicago the summer between sixth and seventh grade.

“It was a weeklong program, but all it took was one day for him to come home and say, ‘That’s where I want to go to high school,’” Roselee Hicks, his mother, said 2018.

Hicks returned for the same program after his seventh grade year and enrolled at Quigley South for high school.

He went directly into Niles College Seminary with more than two dozen of his high school classmates, he said. While he was there, he met one of his dorm neighbors: Archbishop Robert Casey, who was ordained an auxiliary bishop with him in 2018, succeeded him as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and was installed as archbishop of Cincinnati in May.

After college, Hicks said he knew he wanted to be a priest, and he knew that if became a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, he needed to learn Spanish, so he spent a year living with and caring for children at the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage in Mexico.

That year changed his life, Hicks has said.

“Working with and being in solidarity with the poor — and also seeing people dedicated to this mission from the church — shows how we are all part of God’s family, and we all walk together,” Hicks said in 2018.

When he entered the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in 1990, he was sure of his vocation to priesthood, he said.

“I walked in very sure of that call,” Hicks said in 2018. “The diaconate, the priesthood ordinations, those were manifestations of that call that started a long time ago. When we were ordained to the priesthood, people tell me I was smiling, and I just couldn’t stop.”

After ordination, Hicks served as associate pastor at Our Lady of Mercy Parish for two years and at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, Orland Hills, for three years. From 1999 to 2005, he lived and ministered at St. Joseph College Seminary — as the archdiocesan college seminary was then known — at Loyola University Chicago as the dean of formation.

In 2005, Hicks received permission to move to El Salvador and return to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, this time as regional director for the organization’s Central American homes. Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos cares for orphans in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

When his five-year term ended, Hicks returned to seminary formation, this time as dean of formation at Mundelein. During his time there, he celebrated weekend Masses at St. Jerome Parish in Rogers Park.

For Archbishop-elect Hicks, his ordination as a bishop did not mean an immediate change in his day-to-day ministry, as he continued as vicar general for the next two years.

He became the sixth bishop of the neighboring Diocese of Joliet on Sept. 29, 2020.

As he introduced himself to his new flock, Archbishop-elect Hicks spoke briefly in Spanish, mentioning friends and loved ones in and from Latin America, and quoting a Spanish song about “walking together as brothers and sisters.”

“I speak Spanish,” he said. “But it’s more than that. I was really formed by the Latino church, and I have a great heart for the Latino community. And so we have someone who not only speaks Spanish but understands that this community is a vital part of the church. And I think what you’re going to see is that I love all people.”

That will inform his leadership, he said, adding, “I’m just looking forward to doing it in the spirit of great collaboration, in communities of love.”