Bishop Appointed for the Diocese of Pembroke

Wednesday, May 06 2020

Ottawa – Today, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed the Most Reverend Guy Desrochers, C.Ss.R., Bishop of the Diocese of Pembroke. At the time of his appointment, Bishop Desrochers was serving as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. Bishop Desrochers will assume the pastoral governance of the Diocese from the Most Reverend Michael Mulhall, who currently serves as its Apostolic Administrator as well as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kingston.

Bishop Desrochers was born in 1956 in the Hull sector of Gatineau, Québec. Upon completion of secondary school, he entered Algonquin College, Ottawa, to pursue studies in Fine Arts and Commercial Art which, in turn, led him to work as a graphic artist for seven years with the Ottawa French-language newspaper Le Droit. He later entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) to pursue his vocation and was ordained to the priesthood in 1989. Following his ordination, he worked on a special evangelization project in the Gaspé region of Québec. He went on to serve for several years as Rector of the former Redemptorist monastery in Aylmer-Gatineau, before being appointed to the Shrine of Saint Anne-de-Beaupré. After a brief period as superior of a retirement home for Redemptorists near Québec City, he returned to Saint Anne-de-Beaupré as director of the Annals of Saint Anne magazine, serving in that capacity for three years and, in July 2011, became Rector of the Basilica Shrine of Saint Anne-de-Beaupré. He devoted part of his time to preaching retreats all over North America and, in June 2015, returned to this ministry in a full-time capacity as well as serving as Director of Vocations for the Redemptorists. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall of Ottawa on 12 December 2018 and ordained Bishop at Alexandria on 22 February 2019. Bishop Desrochers has subsequently worked closely with the Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, S.J., the then Bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and Archbishop of Ottawa, both of which were then united in persona episcopi.

The Diocese of Pembroke has 55 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 38,140 served by 41 diocesan priests, 26 priests who are members of institutes of consecrated life, 13 permanent deacons, as well as three Brothers and 91 Sisters who are members of institutes of consecrated life, in addition to one lay pastoral assistant.