Msgr. Michael Mulhall named Bishop of Pembroke

Saturday, June 30 2007

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today named Msgr. Michael Mulhall as Bishop of Pembroke. At the time of his nomination, Msgr. Mulhall was Vicar General of the Diocese of Peterborough, as well as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Hastings, Ontario.

The see of Pembroke has been vacant since the nomination earlier this year of Most Reverend Richard Smith as Archbishop of Edmonton.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today named Msgr. Michael Mulhall as Bishop of Pembroke. At the time of his nomination, Msgr. Mulhall was Vicar General of the Diocese of Peterborough, as well as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Hastings, Ontario. The see of Pembroke has been vacant since the nomination earlier this year of Most Reverend Richard Smith as Archbishop of Edmonton.

The new Bishop was born 25 February 1962 in Peterborough, Ontario. After studying philosophy at Trent University, Ontario, and theology at the Angelicum and Augustinianum universities in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood on 21 July 1989 for the Diocese of Peterborough. After further studies in Rome, he served in a parish in Huntsville, Ontario, from 1991 to 1994, when he returned to Rome to work in the Congregation for Oriental Churches. After returning to Canada in 2002, he did pastoral ministry first in Huntsville and then in Hastings, Ontario, as well as serving as the Chancellor for Spiritual Affairs and the Vicar General of the Diocese of Peterborough.

The Diocese of Pembroke, which also has parishes in Quebec, has 61 diocesan priests, two priests who are members of religious communities, 168 religious Sisters and Brothers, six permanent deacons and nine lay pastoral workers serving 67,870 Catholics in 58 parishes and missions.