Bishops Elect New CCCB Executive and Bring 2019 Plenary Assembly to a Close
Saturday, September 28 2019
Cornwall, Ontario – The Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) elected the Most Reverend Richard Gagnon, Archbishop of Winnipeg, as its next President, and the Most Reverend Raymond Poisson, Bishop of St-Jérôme, as its next Vice President.
Archbishop Richard Gagnon succeeds the Most Reverend Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil as President at the conclusion of the 2019 Plenary Assembly. Archbishop Gagnon, was born in 1948 in Lethbridge, Alberta. After seminary studies at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1983 for the Archdiocese of Vancouver. He was named Bishop of Victoria in 2004 and appointed Archbishop of Winnipeg in October 2013. He has served from 2007 to 2008 on the CCCB Permanent Council as the regional representative of the Assembly of Western Catholic Bishops and from 2017 to 2019 as the CCCB Vice-President.
The newly elected Vice President, Bishop Raymond Poisson, was born in Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rouville, Québec, on 30 April 1958. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil on 9 December 1983. On 1 May 2012, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme and ordained Auxiliary Bishop in Saint-Jérôme on 15 June 2012. On 7 September 2015, he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Joliette and installed on 4 November 2015. On 18 May 2018, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme. He assumed the pastoral governance of the Diocese on 20 May 2019.
The incoming Executive Committee also includes two Co-Treasurers: from the English Sector, for a second term, the Most Reverend William McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary, and from the French Sector, for a first term, the Most Reverend Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière.
As part of the regular proceedings of the meeting, the Bishops were presented with two reports pertaining to the Canadian Catholic Organization of Development and Peace-Caritas Canada (Development and Peace). The reports, one concerning the joint partnership review and the second concerning the organizational review, were received and discussed during the Plenary Assembly. While the reports mark a significant milestone in the process toward the conclusion of these initiatives, the Bishops continue to discern questions related to these reports.
The meeting concluded with the presentations of various reports from, among others, the Canadian Appeal Tribunal, the Regional Assemblies, Northern Bishops, the Eastern Churches, and the Military Ordinariate of Canada.
At the close of the meeting, the bishops agreed to reconvene in one year's time for the 2020 Plenary Assembly from September 21 to 25, 2020.
Source - CCCB
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