BAIE-COMEAU (CANADA)
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)
February 18, 2025
By Maribel Mayorga
Today, His Holiness Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Jean-Pierre Blais, Bishop of Baie-Comeau, and has appointed as his successor the Reverend Father Pierre Charland, O.F.M., currently Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of the Holy Spirit in Canada. In accordance with the Code of Canon Law, a Diocesan Bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances.
Born on 20 December 1962, in North Bay, Ontario, Bishop-designate Charland made his first profession of vows within the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan Friars) in 1991, in Lachute, Quebec, and his perpetual profession on 12 May 1996. On 7 October 2011, he was ordained to the diaconate at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Montreal. On 22 June 2012, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Franciscan Chapel in Montreal by Archbishop Christian Lépine.
Bishop-designate Charland earned concurrently a Ph.D. in Theology from the Université de Montréal and a Doctorate in Catholic Theology from Université Strasbourg 2 in 2005. He also holds a Bachelor of Theology degree (1996) and a Master of Arts degree in Theology (1998) from the Université de Montréal, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Ottawa (1991).
As a Franciscan Friar, Bishop-designate Charland has held various positions of leadership and service within the Church, including as a member of the Franciscan Provincial Council since 2001 and as General Visitator to the Franciscan provinces of Christ the King (Western Canada) and Blessed John Duns Scotus (France and Belgium). From 2012 to 2017, he was Pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Montreal. In 2017, he was elected Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of St. Joseph (Eastern Canada). In 2018, he was appointed the first Minister Provincial of the newly established Holy Spirit Province in Canada, and was reappointed to the same in 2022. He has been a Member of the Administration Council of the Service Intercommunautaire d’Animation Franciscaine since 2018. He has also been a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) since 2018, and Vice-President since 2023.
Born on 21 May 1949, in Saint-Anselme, Quebec, Bishop Jean-Pierre Blais pursued his early education in his hometown before continuing his secondary and collegiate studies at the Apostolic School of Lévis and the Collège de Lévis. He later attended Laval University’s Faculty of Theology, earning a Bachelor of Theology degree in 1971, followed by a Master of Theology degree in 1974. During his formation at the Grand Séminaire de Québec from 1968 to 1974, he also pursued studies at the Faculty of Education at Université Laval.
Ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Laurent Noël on 11 May 1974 in Saint-Anselme, he dedicated the early years of his priestly ministry to pastoral work in education. He served as a parish vicar in Charny, Quebec, and later as a Christian education advisor for the Sainte-Foy School Board. From 1982 to 1990, he was Director of the Office of Catechesis for the Archdiocese of Quebec and a member of the Education Commission. He later served as pastor and moderator of the pastoral team for multiple parishes in the Quebec City area.
On 3 November 1994, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec and was ordained to the episcopate by Archbishop Maurice Couture on 6 January 1995 at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Baie-Comeau. Throughout his episcopal ministry, he has contributed significantly to education, pastoral care, and ecumenism at both the provincial and national levels.
He served on various committees of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in the areas of education, pastoral ministry, and canon law. He also served two mandates on the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council from 2017 to 2023, and from 2018 to 2020 was one of the CCCB’s delegates to Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle.
The Diocese of Baie-Comeau has 22 diocesan priests, 8 priests who are members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, 5 women who are members of institutes of consecrated life, 6 permanent deacons, and 4 lay pastoral agents serving a Catholic population of 85,189 in 55 parishes and missions.