MARQUETTE — Bishop Alexander K. Sample, shepherd of the Upper Peninsula’s Diocese of Marquette for the past seven years, has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as the next archbishop of Portland, Ore., succeeding retiring Archbishop John Vlazny, who turned 75 last year.

The announcement came the morning of Jan. 29, and Archbishop-designate Sample will be installed in Portland on April 2.

Archbishop-designate Sample said in a prepared statement that the Holy Father’s announcement stirred a range of emotions.

“Even as there is excitement and joy at taking up this new challenge that God has placed before me, I would be less than honest if I did not say that I will leave the Church in the U.P. with a certain heaviness of heart,” he said. “I will profoundly miss the people, the clergy and religious of the diocese. I will miss my brother priests in a special way, since I was chosen from among them to be their bishop.

“I have always tried to be obedient to the will of God and to accept whatever the Church asks of me to be God’s will,” the archbishop-designate continued. “It is in this spirit that I have said ‘yes’ to the Holy Father’s request for me to serve the Church in a new place in western Oregon. I ask the prayers of all the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Marquette. They will always be in my heart and prayers. Venerable Frederic Baraga, pray for us!” he wrote.

Archbishop-designate Sample will remain as administrator of the Diocese of Marquette until his installation in Portland. At that time, the diocesan College of Consultors will select a new diocesan administrator who will serve the Diocese of Marquette until a new bishop or an apostolic administrator is named by the pope.

Archbishop-designate Sample has been a collaborator on many projects with the Archdiocese of Detroit during his time in Michigan. He most recently spoke in October at the annual Call to Holiness conference on the theme of Vatican II. Archbishop-designate Sample also has appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows such as “Catholic Answers Live.”

The next archbishop of Portland is known for using modern social media in the cause of proclaiming Jesus. Bishop Sample maintains a Facebook page, and he kicked off the Year of Faith by tweeting throughout a 1,000-mile trip across Michigan’s far northern Upper Peninsula.

The prelate — tall and slim at 52 — made an even longer journey the last week of January to appear before the media for the announcement that he’d been named spiritual leader of the 415,000 Catholics of western Oregon.

“It is my prayer and hope that together we can gaze on the face of Jesus Christ and show forth his light to the generations of the new millennium,” he said.

The new archbishop had been to Oregon once before — a boyhood salmon fishing trip to the mouth of the Columbia River. He caught nothing then. “Now I am brought here as a fisher of men,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be more successful at that.”

Archbishop-designate Sample was ordained a priest on June 1, 1990, at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette by Bishop Mark F. Schmitt. He served in parishes for several years before heading to Rome, where he earned a licentiate in canon law in 1996.

He was ordained bishop of Marquette on Jan. 25, 2006, at St. Peter Cathedral. At 45 years old, he was the youngest bishop in the United States at the time. In addition, his ordination as bishop was the first to take place in the Diocese of Marquette in more than 100 years.

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Catholic News Service contributed to this story.