Archbishop Roussin retires

Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation for health reasons
Archbishop Miller becomes ninth shepherd of Vancouver

By Laureen McMahon

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, effective immediately.

The announcement came in a press release issued by the archdiocese on Jan. 2. The decision to retire at this time was the result of Archbishop Roussin having suffered from a neurological illness for the past several years.

He was immediately succeeded by Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, coadjutor archbishop of the archdiocese for the past 18 months. The role of coadjutor archbishop carries with it the automatic right of succession; the transition, therefore, is expected to be extraordinarily smooth.

Archbishop Roussin, then the Bishop of Victoria, and prior to that the Bishop of Gravelbourg, Sask., was asked to shepherd Vancouver after the retirement of Archbishop Emeritus Adam Exner, OMI, at the end of 2003. Archbishop Roussin was installed in Vancouver Feb. 17, 2004.

The idea for the appointment of a coadjutor archbishop for Vancouver really came from Archbishop Roussin who, while preparing final archdiocesan synod documents, concluded that the tremendous growth of the Church in Vancouver merited additional help at the episcopal level.

"I got in touch with the Vatican and with the Canadian apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Ventura," Archbishop Roussin told The B.C. Catholic in 2007, "and said I saw a need for either an auxiliary or coadjutor bishop."

With the arrival of Archbishop Miller in the summer of 2007, the "episcopal dream team" (a quote from Dr. David Sylvester, president of St. Mark's and Corpus Christi Colleges), was born.

"While I will miss my role, I am happy to be able to turn full responsibility over to Archbishop Miller," said Archbishop Roussin. "He is an energetic man with a great vision for Vancouver, particularly with respect to school, health care, and pastoral planning, which is surely a realization of the synod directives."

Archbishop Roussin said he will keep the new prelate in his prayers, "that God will grant him continued strength and draw the diocese ever closer to Christ's only way."

Archbishop Roussin was born in Saint Boniface, Man., June 17, 1939, and earned his undergraduate degree from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Tex. He studied for the priesthood at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, where he was ordained in 1970 as a member of the Congregation of Marianists. He taught for many years in Quebec, Manitoba, and the U.S. before being asked to be the Provincial of the Marianists from 1980-87.

After completing his assignment as Bishop of Gravelbourg to oversee the diocese's dissolution in 1998, he was appointed Bishop of Victoria in 1999 after serving for some months as coadjutor bishop under Bishop Remi DeRoo.

Archbishop Roussin has been active within the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, serving as a member of the Episcopal Commission for Christian Education (French Sector), the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy (English Sector), the Permanent Council, and also as CCCB liaison bishop with Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry.

During his time in Vancouver he was noted for his humble manner and deeply spiritual and pastoral approach to ministry, as well as for publicly acknowledging his struggle with clinical depression.

He was the first Archbishop of Vancouver to issue an apology for the treatment of First Nations people in residential schools. His motto was "steadfast in faith."

Archbishop Miller expressed his admiration for his predecessor's simplicity of faith and prayerfulness.

"His patience in adversity and his courage in the public forum will be remembered. He has been a great teacher and will leave a lasting impression as a gentle pastor of souls."

Archbishop Miller added that he will always be enormously grateful for Archbishop Roussin's "many kindnesses and evangelical example.

"The archdiocese has been richly blessed by his ministry. To me he has been a father and elder brother in the episcopacy."

Archbishop Miller was born in Ottawa July 9, 1946. He attended Catholic schools while growing up, then went to the University of Toronto for a year before entering the novitiate of the Basilian Fathers. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the U of T and his Master's at the University of Wisconsin in the field of Latin American studies.

He taught high school for a year, completed his Master of Divinity at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto, then spent from 1974 to 1979 in Rome, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1975 by Pope Paul VI. He earned his licentiate in 1976 and doctorate in 1979 in Theology at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University.

In 1979 Archbishop Miller joined the faculty of the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Tex., and subsequently, served as its chairman and as dean of the school of theology at St. Mary's Seminary. In 1990 he was named the university's vice president for academic affairs.

In 1992 Archbishop Miller was called to Rome, where he worked in the English-language section of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See until 1997, when he returned to Houston as president of the University of St. Thomas.

Pope John Paul II appointed him Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education in 2003, and he was ordained an archbishop at St. Peter's Basilica on Jan. 12, 2004.

He continued working at the Holy See until being appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Vancouver.

Archbishop Miller, whose episcopal motto is "to serve the truth," is a prolific writer.

He is a specialist on the papacy, modern papal teaching, and Catholic higher education, and has published seven books and more than 150 articles, scholarly, popular, and journalistic.

His books include The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy (1995); and the Encyclicals of John Paul II (2nd ed., 200l).