Appointment of a new Archbishop for Sherbrooke

Tuesday, July 26 2011

(Ottawa – CCCB, July 26, 2011)… His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI named the Most Reverend Luc Cyr, as Archbishop of Sherbrooke today. At the time of his nomination, Archbishop Cyr was the Bishop of Valleyfield. He succeeds the Most Reverend André Gaumond, whose resignation was accepted because of age, in accordance with the Code of Canon Law, after having exercised pastoral responsibility for the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke for 15 years.

 

Born in Saint-Jérôme in 1953, Archbishop Cyr was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 and to the episcopacy in June 2001. He studied theology at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal and at the University of Montréal, spirituality in Florence, Italy, and obtained a license in moral theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome.

After serving as Curate in two parishes in the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme, he became Pastor in Blainville, from 1987 to 1992. He then exercised his ministry in various diocesan functions, successively in formation and vocation services, and regional facilitator, before becoming Vicar General of the Diocese in 1994, a position he maintained until his appointment as Bishop of Valleyfield. Archbishop Cyr is currently the CCCB’s representative at the Charismatic Renewal (French sector).

Archbishop Gaumond was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, on May 27, 1961. With Licenses in Theology and Philosophy, he first worked in the field of education, at the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and the Cégep de La Pocatière, from 1961 to 1981. He then became Pastor of the Saint-Pamphile and Saint-Omer Christian communities in Québec, until his appointment as Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, in May 1985. After being named Coadjutor Archbishop of Sherbrooke on February 15, 1995, he officially assumed the responsibility of Archbishop on July 1, 1996. Over the course of his 26 years of episcopacy, Archbishop Gaumond served on many episcopal commissions and was President of the CCCB from 2005 to 2007.

The Archdiocese of Sherbrooke has 88 parishes and missions. Its Catholic population of 245,495 is served by 169 priests, 93 religious order priests, 854 Religious Brothers and Sisters, 24 permanent deacons as well as 36 pastoral associates.