By Brian Kelly
Sault Star
December 30, 2011
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3421079
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| The Most Reverend Noel Simard, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, leads a blessing at the official opening of the Grade 7 and 8 wing at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Sudbury on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. (JOHN LAPPA/THE SUDBURY STAR/QMI AGENCY) |
A higher calling beckons an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
Noel Simard was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Valleyfield by Pope Benedict on Friday.
The Quebec diocese, established in 1892, serves about 200,000 Catholics with 26 parishes and missions.
Valleyfield has 64 diocesan priests, 12 religious priests, 17 deacons, 42 pastoral assistants, 17 religious brothers and 76 religious women.
Simard, 64, succeeds Bishop Luc Cyr, who was appointed archbishop of Sherbrooke in July.
"Bishop Simard will be missed by the people, the priests and the deacons of our diocese," said Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe in a statement.
"I am a losing a very competent and dedicated immediate collaborator. In a short period, Bishop Noel has befriended many."
Simard and Brian Dunn were appointed auxiliary bishops of the Sault diocese in 2008.
Dunn's service was brief. In late 2009, he was named bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish, N.S. Dunn replaced Raymond Lahey, who pleaded guilty to importing child pornography in May.
Simard was responsible for the French pastoral region of Nipissing, Sudbury, Algoma and the English pastoral region of Sudbury. He was also the diocese's vicar general. The date of his installation as bishop is still to be announced.
A native of St-Aime-des-Lacs, Simard was ordained in 1972.
With his departure, Plouffe will have no auxiliaries to help him oversee a diocese that stretches 1,200 kilometres from Temagami in the east to Manitouwadge in the west.
bkelly@saultstar.com
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