Most Rev. J. Faber MacDonald named Bishop of Saint John, NB

Friday, October 23 1998

(Ottawa – CCCB) His Holiness Pope John Paul II today named Most Rev. Joseph Faber Macdonald, currently Bishop of Grand Falls, Nfld, as the new Bishop of Saint John, N.B. He succeeds Most Rev. J. Edward Troy, whose resignation was accepted by the Pope last year.

Bishop MacDonald has been Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Falls since 1980. He was born in Little Pond, Prince Edward Island, in 1932, and ordained to the priesthood in 1963. He studied theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and the Institut de liturgie pastorale et missionnaire, in Bruges, Belgium.

He is currently a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Evangelization of Peoples, and has served on the commissions for Social Affairs, and Christian Education, as well as the Permanent Council and the Programs and Priorities Committee.

The Diocese of Saint John has a Catholic population of 112,710 in 100 parishes and missions served by 67 diocesan priests, 11 priests from religious communities, 2 permanent deacons and 178 religious sisters.