Robert Joseph Banks was the tenth Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay

Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay was established on March 3, 1868 by Pope Pius IX. It covers the city of Green Bay as well as Brown, Calumet, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Manitowoc, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago counties,...

, in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

.

Biography

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on February 20, 1952, for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the state of Massachusetts...

. From 1967 to 1981 he served as rector of St. John's Seminary in Boston. On July 26, 1985, Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 appointed him auxiliary bishop

Auxiliary bishop

An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...

 of the Boston Archdiocese, and he was consecrated on September 19, 1985. On October 10, 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Banks the Bishop of the Green Bay Diocese. Bishop Banks retired as ordinary on October 10, 2003.

Abuse scandal

Bishop Banks was accused of overlooking a priest's alleged pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal while he was an auxiliary bishop at Boston.