Archbishop Thomas Gullickson will be visiting Bermuda for the first time on July 22 as the newly appointed Papal Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate to the Dioceses and Governments of the Antilles Episcopal Conference of the Roman Catholic Church.

Archbishop Gullickson will be at Mass at St. Patrick's Church in Smith's parish on Saturday, July 23 at 6 p.m. A coffee social will follow the Mass so that the congregation will have the opportunity to meet him.

Another Mass will be held at St. Theresa's Cathedral on Sunday July 24 at 11.30 a.m.

The Archbishop will meet his Excellency, the Governor, Sir John Vereker, the Deputy Premier, Dr. the Hon. Ewart F. Brown, the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. the Hon. Grant Gibbons and many leaders of the Roman Catholic community during his visit to Bermuda.

Archbishop Gullickson was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA on August 14, 1950 and ordained to the priesthood on June 27, 1976.

He was ordained to the Episcopate of his hometown in November 2004.

Archbishop Gullickson entered the service of the Holy See in May 1985. He has also been appointed to diplomatic missions in Rwanda, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Jerusalem, Israel and Germany.

He was Apostolic Nuncio in Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Common of Dominica, Genada, and Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Republic of Suriname, twelve independent states in the Antilles.

His first posting as Apostolic Delegate was in the Antilles Episcopal Conference region. The region is made of the English, French ? with the exception of Haiti ? and Dutch territories in the Caribbean.

Archbishop Gullickson is the fifth Apostolic Nuncio in this region.