Pope Benedict appoints Canadian as coadjutor Archbishop of Vancouver

Vatican City, Jun 1, 2007 / 07:55 am

 

This morning the Vatican made public the appointment of Archbishop Michael Miller by Pope Benedict XVI to be the coadjutor Archbishop of the Vancouver, Canada.

 

Archbishop Miller, a 60-year-old native of Canada, will leave his post as the Secretary for Catholic Education in Rome, where he has served since 2004, to function as the coadjutor Archbishop for Archbishop Raymond Roussin.

 

When a bishop is close to retirement, a coadjutor bishop (from the Latin adjuvare, to help) is often named to assist him and to assure a smooth transition upon retirement, in accordance with Canon 403 of the Code of Canon Law.

A member of the Basilian religious order, Archbishop Miller will take up his first assignment in an archdiocese of 402,310 Catholics. He will also shepherd 189 diocesan and religious priests, 143 religious Brothers and Sisters, and one permanent deacon.

 

The Archbishop is expected to arrive in Vancouver sometime in the early fall.

 

Previous to serving as the coadjutor for Vancouver, Archbishop Miller was named Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education as well as an Archbishop by Pope John Paul II in 2003. The Congregation for Catholic Education oversees norms for seminaries, Catholic universities and colleges, and Catholic schools. 

In 1974 he received a bachelor's degree in theology from St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. In 1976 he was granted a licentiate "summa cum laude" in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was awarded the doctoral degree "summa cum laude" from the Gregorian University in 1979.

From 1979 to 1992, he was professor of dogmatic theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Houston, Texas.  From 1992 to 1997, he worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State before becoming President of the University of St. Thomas in Houston in 2003.