Plans are announced to welcome Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Miller

Also See: Camper expected little, had amazing experience

By Laureen McMahon

The Mass of Welcome for newly-appointed Coadjutor Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, will be celebrated at Holy Rosary Cathedral at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, will be principal celebrant, and invitations will be issued so that every parish will be represented. A formal reception to follow at a nearby hotel will be announced soon.

"The Welcome Mass is Archbishop Miller's introduction to the archdiocese," explained vice-chancellor Barbara Dowding.

The process, she said, is similar to an episcopal installation, as it is the occasion when the archdiocese formally recognizes Archbishop Miller as the new coadjutor archbishop.

In the future, when Archbishop Roussin retires, there will be, said Dowding, "a `seamless transition,' which is really the point of appointing a coadjutor archbishop and having him completely ready to take over."

After the Mass of welcome, Archbishop Miller will take his annual holiday, as he is coming straight to Vancouver from serving in Rome, she said.

Curia and central office employees of the archdiocese were surprised and delighted on June 13, just a few weeks after his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI, to see a smiling Archbishop Miller suddenly appear at their office doors.

As he was introduced to his future colleagues by Dowding, the Ottawa-born archbishop explained that the "flying visit" from Rome was his second time in the city. Twenty years earlier he had attended a retreat directed by his fellow Basilians at St. Mark's College at UBC.

While the beautiful west-coast scenery had him for a time toying with the idea of applying to teach in Vancouver, God had other ideas.

A short time as a student in Mexico was enough to convince him that he should earn a degree in Latin American studies, but his Basilian superiors instructed him to begin by studying theology.

When his theological gifts became apparent, he continued in Rome, eventually earning a theological licentiate in 1976 and a doctoral degree in 1979.

Archbishop Miller was twice posted to Houston, Tex., once as professor of dogmatic theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the other time as the university's president. He spent the five years in between in Rome serving with the Vatican Secretariat of State.

He acknowledged being "stunned" when Cardinal Giovanni Battista of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops told him he was coming to Vancouver.

Immediately, he said with a chuckle, he went to the web site of the archdiocese to check out the departments, organizations, and personnel with whom he would soon be working.

Archbishop Miller began his whirlwind visit to Vancouver with an informal hour-long "meet and greet" with archdiocesan priests on June 12 at St. Andrew Kim parish. Over coffee, the archbishop spoke about his background and said he was looking forward to getting to know the priests better very soon.

After he was introduced to chancery employees, one department head reflected that it was obvious that the archbishop was already familiar with many aspects about the Church in Vancouver.

"We could tell by his informed questions," said the director, "that he has spent time gathering information and familiarizing himself with how the diocese operates."

Said Dowding, "He is truly eager to get to know as many people as possible. I have found in my brief time with him that he studies a new subject so quickly and is ready with a decisive response to most questions. I think we have been exceptionally fortunate to have been sent a coadjutor archbishop who combines great knowledge with such a wonderfully warm manner."

Among the items that caught the archbishop's eye on the web site, he said, was the list of Final Propositions from the recently-completed Vancouver Archdiocesan Synod. They made, he said, some excellent reading.

Those propositions affecting Catholic education and evangelization are sure to benefit from Archbishop Miller's expertise in these areas; he has even been referred to as the Vatican's "point man on higher education."

In 2003 Pope John Paul II named him Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education responsible for overseeing norms for seminaries, Catholic universities and colleges, and Catholic schools.

He served as vice-president of the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations, and was a member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

Archbishop Miller served on the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which supports the assimilation of refugees and immigrants into their adopted country while encouraging the retention of cultural traditions. This is sure to assist him in ministering to Vancouver's highly multicultural and fluid archdiocesan population.