The Pope has appointed two new auxiliary bishops: Father Gaétan Proulx, O.S.M. and Father Denis Grondin Jr. Courtesy of the CCCB.Canada's oldest diocese gets some new blood
By Deborah Gyapong
The Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA (CCN)--On Dec. 12, Pope Benedict XVI named two new auxiliary bishops to Quebec to assist Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix and Auxiliary Bishop Paul Lortie in Canada’s oldest diocese.
The new bishops-elect are Father Gaétan Proulx, O.S.M., who has served in France and Belgium in addition to Quebec; and Reverend Denis Grondin Jr., who has served as a pastor in Quebec.
At a news conference in Quebec City carried on the diocese’s ECDQ TV network, Archbishop Lacroix said he welcomed the Holy Father’s announcement with great joy. The archbishop described the men as pastors who are extremely well-equipped and experienced. He said the new bishops-elect are “profoundly spiritual and rooted in the faith” as well as very rooted in the realities and of everyday life.
Before the cameras, Archbishop Lacroix presented the new bishops-elect with pectoral crosses and zucchettos, the ecclesial purple skull caps.
Father Proulx said he was happy to serve the Church in Quebec after considering the nomination. He also noted the great sense of fraternity he felt with the archbishop and within the diocese.
Father Grondin said he trusted in God’s mercy as he took up the appointment.
"I am not alone," he said, noting he had the Church, the Holy Spirit, the love of God, “and you,” the collaborators and witnesses of the faith, to help him.
Born on May 27, 1946 in Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, Quebec, 1946, Father Prouxl joined the Servite order, and then obtained a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Dominican University College in Ottawa . He went on to earn a Master’s in Theology at Laval University in Quebec and before his ordination to the priesthood on June 8, 1975.
After ten years with his community as assistant and master of novices, he left for France where he served as a priest in the Séez and Belley-Ars dioceses. In 1989, he went to Brussels as Master of Formation for the Servites in France, Belgium, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Returning to Quebec in 1991, Father Prouxl again took up the role as Master of Formation for the Servites of Quebec until in 2000, he became Prior of the Canadian Servite Province. Since 2005, he has also been administrator and pastor of Notre-Dame-de-Foy Parish.
Father Grondin was born on Oct. 23, 1954 in Rimouski where he attended the Seminaire Saint-Francois and the Seminaire Saint-Augustin. He studied Health Sciences at the Quebec Minor Seminary and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in medicine. He did a pastoral internship as a teacher at Sainte-Croix de Lotbiniere and the "Patro Saint-Vincent de Paul", before entering the Major Seminary in Quebec City.
After his ordination to the priesthood on May 21, 1989, he began serving as an associate pastor in various parts of the Quebec diocese and later as pastor of several Charlevoix region parishes. He has also served as the pastoral animator on health issues for the archdiocese.
The Archdiocese of Quebec serves almost a million Catholics, with 219 parishes or missions, 401 diocesan and 267 religious priests, 2,992 religious brothers or sisters, 96 permanent deacons and 102 lay pastoral assistants.
A date has not yet been set for their episcopal ordination.
