New Auxiliary Bishop appointed for Toronto

CCCB – Ottawa)… His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed Monsignor Wayne Kirkpatrick, P.H., as Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto, Ontario. He will assist the Archbishop of Toronto, His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, in collaboration with three other Auxiliary Bishops: the Most Reverend John A. Boissonneau, William Terrence McGrattan and Vincent Nguyen.
Born June 5, 1957, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Bishop-elect Kirkpatrick studied at St. Jerome’s College of the University of Waterloo, St. Augustine’s Seminary,Toronto, and Saint Paul University, Ottawa, where he earned a licentiate in canon law. On September 1, 1984, he was ordained priest for the Diocese of St. Catharines. In addition to his ministry as pastor and assistant pastor in a number of parishes, he served from 1990 to 1995 as Associate Judicial Vicar of the Toronto Regional Tribunal and Vice Chancellor of the Diocese of St. Catharines. Since 1995 he has been Judicial Vicar of St. Catharines Diocesan Tribunal and also Chancellor of the diocese. On June 29, 1999, he was named a Prelate of Honour. From April 2010 to September 2011 he was Administrator of the Diocese of St. Catharines. At the time of his episcopal appointment, he was also Rector of the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, where he has served since August 2005. He has been involved with Catholic Engaged Encounter since 1999, and President of the Canadian Canon Law Society since 2010.
The Archdiocese of Toronto has 225 parishes and missions, with a population of 1,626,465 Catholics, served by 283 diocesan priests, 424 priests who are members of religious institutes, 123 permanent deacons, 639 religious Sisters and Brothers, and 70 lay pastoral workers.