The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington has a new bishop after the departure of Bishop Roger Foys.

Foys, 75, reached the mandatory of age of retirement last summer. Foys has been bishop since 2002.

He will be replaced by John Iffert, a pastor in the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois. Foys stayed on as bishop until his replacement was chosen, according to a release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

Iffert, 53, was ordained to the priesthood in 1997.

Iffert spoke at a news conference Tuesday in Covington, saying he intends to make the recruitment of priests an important part of his ministry. The diocese has about 90,000 Catholics in a 14-county region of northern Kentucky, the Kentucky Enquirer reported.

“I’d like to invite every active, prayerful, Catholic young man to spend time learning about the life of a priest,” Iffert said Tuesday. “Do something to ask God if this is the life for you. You do not want to miss this. It is an adventure and a joy.”

Foys took over in 2002 after serving as the vicar general in Steubenville, Ohio, for more than a decade.