New Bishop Named for Grand Falls, Newfoundland

Tuesday, December 12 2000

(Ottawa – CCCB) His Holiness Pope John Paul II today named Msgr. Martin William Currie, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Halifax and pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Truro, Nova Scotia, as the new Bishop of Grand Falls, Newfoundland. Grand Falls has been without a Bishop since the appointment of Most Rev. J. Faber MacDonald as Bishop of Saint John, New Brunswick, in October 1998.

Bishop-elect Currie was born on December 11, 1943, at Marinette, Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, and ordained to the priesthood on May 12, 1968. He has served in a number of Nova Scotia parishes, including rector of Saint Mary’s Basilica in Halifax. He has also served as a high school chaplain and done pastoral ministry in Peru.

He has been both Vicar General and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Halifax, and during the 1998 episcopal vacancy was elected Diocesan Administrator. He has been pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish since 1999.

Bishop-elect Currie, who studied theology at Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax, was director of the Propagation of the Faith from 1982 until 1992, chaplain of the Halifax County Rehab Centre from 1986 until 1992, and chaplain of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society from 1988 until present.

The Diocese of Grand Falls has a Catholic population of 37,940 in 73 parishes and missions served by 30 diocesan priests, with 28 women religious.