Ethan Walker
Canada is home to several Catholic dioceses, with bishops belonging to the Canadian episcopal conference, or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (C.C.C.B.), which is headquartered in the national capital of Ottawa. While the exact number of Catholic bishops in Alberta is unclear, there have been several notable bishops in the province, including in Grouard-McLennan, Calgary, and Saint Paul. Additionally, some bishops in the C.C.C.B. directory are associated with Alberta, such as Archbishop Charles Duval of Grouard-McLennan and Bishop Isidore Clut of Athabaska Mackenzie.
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What You'll Learn
Who are the Catholic bishops in Alberta?
The Catholic Church in Canada consists of a Latin Church hierarchy, with 18 ecclesiastical provinces each headed by a metropolitan archbishop, 54 suffragan dioceses each headed by a bishop, and a non-metropolitan archbishopric, plus a military ordinariate. There are also three Eastern Catholic churches with US-based North American jurisdictions covering Canada.
Archbishop Richard W. Smith, who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 28, 1959, served as President of the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories. He was appointed Bishop of Pembroke, Ontario, in 2002 by Pope St. John Paul II and ordained to the episcopate on June 18, 2002. He received his episcopal consecration on June 18 from Archbishop Marcel Gervais, with Archbishops Terrence Prendergast, S.J., and Austin-Emile Burke serving as co-consecrators. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Metropolitan See of Edmonton in 2007, and he later became Archbishop of Vancouver in 2019.
Other Catholic bishops in Canada include:
- The Most Rev. Peter Hundt, Metropolitan Archbishop of Winnipeg for Ukrainian Catholics in Canada
- The Most Rev. Robert Saeed Jarjis, Archbishop of St. John's
- The Most Rev. Stephen Jensen, Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai in Canada
- The Most Rev. Jose Kalluvelil, Eparchial Bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Mississauga
- The Most Rev. Bryan Bayda, Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada
- The Most Rev. Gregory Bittman, Bishop of St. Catharines
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What is the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops?
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) is the national assembly of Catholic Church bishops in Canada. It was founded in 1943 and officially recognised by the Holy See in 1948. The CCCB is made up of titular bishops of any rite within the Catholic Church who exercise a special office assigned to them by the Apostolic See or by the conference. The bishops work together to exercise certain pastoral functions for Catholics in Canada, while also respecting the autonomy of each bishop within their particular church. The CCCB is headquartered in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, where a permanent bilingual secretariat assists in coordinating activities and information and maintaining contacts with the Holy See, other episcopal conferences, churches, faith groups, and government authorities.
The CCCB is involved in matters of national and international scope through its work in areas such as ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, social justice, aid to developing countries, the protection of human life, liturgy, and Christian education. The conference consists of six national commissions and five sectoral commissions, with three originating from the English sector and two from the French sector. The Catholic Aboriginal Council, for example, encourages Aboriginal leadership in the Christian community.
The CCCB also has an official publishing arm, CCCB Publications, and in February 2022, the Canadian Bishops announced the establishment of an Indigenous Reconciliation Fund. This fund aims to accept contributions from the 73 dioceses across the country and follows the organization's $30 million pledge to support healing and reconciliation initiatives for residential school survivors and their communities.
Some notable members of the CCCB include William McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary and President of the CCCB; Robert Saeed JARJIS, Archbishop of St. John's; and Pierre-Olivier TREMBLAY, O.M.I., Eparchial Bishop of the Syro-Malankara Eparchy of St. Mary, Queen of Peace of the USA and Canada.
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How many Catholic bishops are there in Canada?
The Catholic Church in Canada is organised under the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), which is headquartered in the national capital, Ottawa. The CCCB is made up of a Latin Church hierarchy and a Ukrainian Catholic ecclesiastical province.
The Latin Church hierarchy consists of 18 ecclesiastical provinces, each headed by a metropolitan archbishop, with a total of 54 suffragan dioceses, each headed by a bishop. This brings the total number of bishops in the Latin Church hierarchy to 72.
The Ukrainian Catholic ecclesiastical province comprises a metropolitan archeparchy and four suffragan eparchies, bringing the total number of bishops in this province to 5.
Therefore, the total number of Catholic bishops in Canada is at least 77. However, this number may be higher as it does not include auxiliary bishops or those serving in the six single jurisdictions for other Eastern Catholic Churches with US-based North American jurisdictions covering Canada.
- Archbishop Émilius Goulet of Saint-Boniface, Manitoba
- Bishop Richard John Grecco of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
- Archbishop Denis Grondin of Rimouski, Québec
- Bishop Michel Proulx of Bathurst in Canada, New Brunswick
- Bishop John Stephen Pazak of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto (Slovak)
- Bishop Christian Heribert Riesbeck of Saint John, New Brunswick
- Bishop François Elias Beyrouti of Newton (Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston) (Melkite Greek)
- Bishop Gregory John Bittman of Nelson, British Columbia
- Bishop Gérard P. Bergie of St. Catharines
- Bishop David Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, Ontario
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What is the role of a Catholic bishop?
The Catholic Church holds that the College of Bishops as a group is the successor of the College of Apostles. Bishops form the leadership in the Catholic Church, and their traditional role is as pastor of a diocese (also called a bishopric, synod, eparchy, or see). Bishops are collectively known as the College of Bishops and are responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in their jurisdiction, sanctifying the world, and representing the church. They are believed to have been endowed with a special charism and office by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which has been transmitted through an unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of holy orders.
Diocesan bishops—known as eparchial bishops in the Eastern Catholic Churches—are assigned to govern local regions within the Catholic Church known as dioceses in the Latin Church and eparchies in the Eastern Churches. Bishops are appointed by the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome and is believed to possess the unique role of speaking for the whole Church, appointing other bishops, and managing the Church's central administration, the Roman Curia. The exact process of appointing bishops varies depending on factors such as whether the bishop is from the Latin Church or one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the geographic location of the diocese, and whether the candidate has previously been ordained to the episcopate. In the Latin Church, the local synod, the papal nuncio (or apostolic delegate), various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, and the Pope all take part in the selection process. In patriarchal and major archiepiscopal Eastern Churches, the permanent synod, the holy synod, and the patriarch or major archbishop also play a role in the selection of bishops.
Suffragan bishops are subordinate to metropolitans, and in the Catholic Church, this term is applied to all non-metropolitan bishops. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a full-time assistant to a diocesan bishop. A coadjutor bishop is an auxiliary bishop who is given almost equal authority in a diocese and the automatic right to succeed the incumbent diocesan bishop. A titular bishop is a bishop without a diocese.
In the Latin branch of the Catholic Church, it is normally an ordained person who officiates at a marriage ceremony, but a bishop may delegate a layperson to be present for the exchange of vows in extreme cases such as in mission territories. In the Eastern tradition, the clergy must impart a blessing for a valid marriage. Unless a particular bishop has forbidden it, any bishop may preach throughout the Catholic Church, and any priest or deacon may also preach anywhere with the permission of the local pastor. The cathedral of a diocese contains a special chair, called a cathedra, sometimes referred to as a throne, set aside in the sanctuary for the exclusive use of its Ordinary, symbolizing his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority.
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What is the difference between a bishop and an archbishop?
In the Catholic Church in Alberta, Canada, there are 18 ecclesiastical provinces, each headed by a metropolitan archbishop, 54 suffragan dioceses headed by a bishop, and a non-metropolitan archbishopric, plus a military ordinariate.
Bishops and Archbishops:
Archbishop is a term that did not appear in its modern sense until the 6th century, although the role was established by the 5th century. The role of an archbishop is above that of an ordinary bishop but below a patriarch. The title is derived from the Latin 'archiepiscopus' and the Greek 'archiepískopos', which translates to 'chief' or 'principal' bishop.
All Catholic metropolitans are archbishops, but not all archbishops are metropolitans. An archbishop is the head of a diocese that is considered particularly important, known as an archdiocese. In sacred matters, an archbishop is equivalent to a bishop, but the title of archbishop is more prestigious. As the residential bishop, an archbishop is also known as the local ordinary.
Archbishops have certain powers and duties with respect to the suffragan dioceses within their ecclesiastical province. These are outlined in the Code of Canon Law for Latin Church metropolitan archbishops and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches for the head of an autonomous Eastern Catholic Church.
The rank of archbishop is sometimes conferred on bishops who are not ordinaries of an archdiocese. This is granted to them personally, and they are known as archbishop-bishops. An example is when someone already holding the rank of archbishop is transferred to a see of greater importance, but one that is not archiepiscopal.
In some cases, a newly-named archbishop may not have been a bishop first, but they must be ordained as a bishop before they can be installed as an archbishop.
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