Bishop Appointed for the Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda

Friday, January 31 2020

Ottawa – Today, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed the Father Guy Boulanger Bishop of the Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda. At the time of his appointment, Bishop-elect Boulanger was serving as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke. Upon his episcopal ordination, he will assume the pastoral governance of the diocese which had been entrusted to the Most Reverend Gilles Lemay, Bishop of the Diocese of Amos, as Apostolic Administrator in June 2019, following the resignation of the former Bishop, the Most Reverend Dorylas Moreau, because of illness. Bishop Moreau died 22 October 2019.

Bishop-elect Boulanger was born in Sainte-Cécile-de-Whitton, Québec, on 6 June 1963. He obtained a Baccalaureate in Law (1984) and a Baccalaureate in Theology (1988) from the Université de Sherbrooke. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke on 26 October 1991 and, in that same year, he obtained his Master’s of Pastoral Studies from the Université Laval de Québec. He went on to obtain a Licentiate (2000) and a Doctorate in Canon Law (2007) from Saint Paul University in Ottawa. He served as associate pastor and pastor for parishes within the archdiocese from 1991 to 1998 prior to serving as its Chancellor (2000-2020), Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Affairs (2007-2012), Rector of the Grand Séminaire des Saints-Apôtres (2008-2012, 2019-2020), Judicial Vicar (2008-2020) and Vicar General (2012-2020). In addition to being pastoral moderator for the parish of Richmond, Québec (2015-2020), he also served as President of the Assemblée des chanceliers et chancelières du Québec (2014-2020).

The Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda has 36 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 54,972 served by 20 diocesan priests, two priests, one Brother and 53 Sisters who are all members of institutes of consecrated life, as well as 11 lay pastoral assistants.