Episcopal Resignation and Appointment for the Diocese of Nicolet

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

18 October 2022 – Ottawa – Today, His Holiness Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend André Gazaille as Bishop of Nicolet, and appointed the Most Reverend Daniel Jodoin, currently Bishop of Bathurst, as his successor.

Bishop Jodoin was born 2 March 1957, in Granby, Quebec. After high school studies at the Verbe Divin minor seminary in Granby and further studies at the Collège Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, he obtained a BA and a Master’s degree in business administration from the École des Hautes Études commerciales of the University of Montreal. He later entered Saint Paul Seminary in Ottawa where he received his BA in Theology. After studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from 2000 to 2002, he received a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology, specializing in ecclesiology.

Bishop Jodoin was ordained a priest on 3 October 1992 and served in a number of parishes in the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke, including Saint-Joseph (1992-1994); Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Saints-Anges and Saint-Fortunat (1994-2000); Saint-Julien (1999-2000); Saint-François-d’Assise (2002-2009); and pastor of Très-Saint-Sacrement (2005-2006), Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption (2005-2008), Sainte-Famille (2005-2009), Saint-Philémon (2009) and Bon-Pasteur Parish (2010-2013). He was also responsible of the Office for Clergy and of the Sherbrooke pastoral region, as well as Rector of the Grand séminaire des Saints-Apôtres. On 22 January 2013, Pope Francis appointed him as Bishop of Bathurst.

As a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Jodoin has served as the French Sector Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and the Sacraments, which he currently chairs. From 2014-2017, he was a member of the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council (now known as the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council).

Bishop Gazaille was born 16 May 1946 in Montreal. Following studies in theology and pastoral ministry at the Montreal Grand Séminaire and at the University of Montreal, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Montreal on 29 May 1971. He served as pastor in a number of Montreal parishes, including Saint-Rédempteur (1971-1979), Saints-Martyrs-Canadiens (1979-2006), Visitation de la Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie (1999-2006) and Saint-Antoine-Marie-Claret (2003-2006). Bishop Gazaille served as the Bishop of Nicolet since 2011. Prior to that nomination, he had been Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, where his episcopal ordination took place in March 2006.

Erected in 1885, the Diocese of Nicolet has 80 diocesan priests, 8 priests who are members of religious orders and societies of apostolic life, 173 religious Brothers and Sisters, 21 permanent deacons and 50 pastoral agents serving a Catholic population of 221,000 in 27 parishes and missions. The fourth Bishop of Nicolet was the Most Reverend Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, who was beatified in Rome in 1987.