New Auxiliary Bishop appointed for Saint-Jérôme

Tuesday, May 01 2012

(CCCB – Ottawa)… His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed the Reverend Raymond Poisson as Auxiliary Bishop of Saint-Jérôme, Québec. He will assist the Bishop of Saint-Jérôme, the Most Reverend Pierre Morissette, and succeeds the former Auxiliary Bishop, the Most Reverend Donald Lapointe, whose retirement had been accepted by the Holy Father on July 30, 2011.

Bishop-Elect Raymond Poisson was born on April 30, 1958, in Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rouville, Quebec. After completing his secondary studies at the Séminaire Très-Sainte-Trinité of Saint-Bruno, he pursued his collegial studies in administration at College André-Grasset and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in theology and then a Master’s degree from the University of Montreal. He holds a doctorate in fundamental theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, specializing in ecclesiology. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 9, 1983, for the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil by its then Bishop, the Most Reverend Bernard Hubert. As a priest, he worked at the diocesan level as private secretary to Bishop Hubert and member of the Council of Priests, as well as with the Office for Priests and the Vocations Office.

He also served as pastor in a number of parishes, including being Rector of the Co-Cathedral, Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue. At the time of his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme, Bishop-Elect Poisson was Rector of the Basilica Sainte-Anne of Varennes and pastor of the parishes of Sainte-Anne, Saint-François-Xavier, Sainte-Trinité, Saint-Laurent and Sainte-Théodosie. He has also been a member of a committee of the Assembly of Québec Catholic Bishops that studied future possibilities for Quebec’s heritage of religious art and architecture. He currently serves as chaplain of the Canadian Association of the Order of Malta.

The Diocese of Saint-Jérôme has 35 parishes and missions, with a Catholic population of 407,112, served by 65 diocesan priests, 22 priests who are members of religious institutes, 19 permanent deacons, 116 religious Sisters and Brothers, and 53 lay pastoral workers.