John Quinn Weitzel

Who is John Quinn Weitzel?

John Quinn Weitzel M.M. is a retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, based in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The Diocese was canonically erected on September 10, 1982.

Weitzel was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 1928. He was ordained a Catholic priest within the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America on June 11, 1955.

The new Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago was created in 1982 from territory carved from the Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau. Pope John Paul II appointed Weitzel as the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago's first bishop on June 9, 1986. He was ordained a bishop on October 29, 1986. His resignation was accepted by Pope Francis on Friday, May 31, 2013, and the Rev. Peter Brown, C.Ss.R., who served as Regional Superior of the Redemptorists in New Zealand, was named to succeed him as bishop. On August 22, 2013, Peter Brown was ordained as the new bishop of the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago.