Appointment of two new Auxiliary Bishops for Quebec City

Monday, December 12 2011

(CCCB – Ottawa)… His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today named Father Gaétan Proulx, O.S.M., and Reverend Denis Grondin Jr. as Auxiliary Bishops of Quebec City. In addition, the Archbishop of Quebec City, the Most Reverend Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, is also assisted by the Most Reverend Paul Lortie who has been Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec City since 2009.

Bishop-Elect Gaétan Proulx, O.S.M., was born on May 27, 1947, in Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, Quebec.  After joining the Servite Order, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Dominican University College in Ottawa, and a Master’s of Theology from Laval University in Quebec.   Ordained a priest on June 8, 1975, he served as assistant and master of novices for his community until his departure for France in 1985, where he served his priestly ministry in the Dioceses of Séez and Belley-Ars.  In 1989, he was called to Brussels to serve as Master of Formation for the Servites in France, Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  He returned to Quebec in 1991, where he again served as Master of Formation for the Servites of Quebec, while also serving the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle Parish in Quebec City.  In 2000, he became Prior of the Canadian Servite Province and, in 2005, administrator and pastor of Notre-Dame-de-Foy Parish, until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Quebec City.

Bishop-Elect Denis Grondin was born on October 23, 1954, in Rimouski, Quebec. He completed his secondary school studies at the Seminaire Saint-Francois and the Seminaire Saint-Augustin.  He then pursued his collegial studies in Health Sciences at the Quebec Minor Seminary and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in medicine.  Following his pastoral internship in the educational system in Sainte-Croix de Lotbiniere and the “Patro Saint-Vincent de Paul“, he entered the Major Seminary in Quebec City.  He was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1989, by Cardinal Louis-Albert Vachon.  He began his pastoral ministry as associate pastor in various regions of the Archdiocese of Quebec City.  He also served as pastor of several parishes in the Charlevoix region and as pastoral animator in the field of sealth until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Quebec City.

The Archdiocese of Quebec City has 219 parishes and missions, including a population of almost 1 million Catholics, served by 401 diocesan priests, 267 priests who are members of religious communities, 2,992 religious who are Sisters or Brothers, 96 permanent deacons and 102 lay pastoral assistants.