Newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop Robert Harris, of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie visited the Catholic Education Centre at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for the first time recently. During his visit he met with the Board of Directors of the Northern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative.

Auxiliary Bishop Harris was born in Montreal on September 26, 1944. After completing his formation at Loyola College, he studied at the Grand Sèminaire de Montrèal, where he obtained his Licentiate in Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1969 and served in various parishes as Assistant and Pastor on the island of Montreal. He completed post-graduate studies and obtained his Licentiate in Canon Law in 1975 at the Gregorian University in Rome.

In the Archdiocese of Montreal, he held simultaneously the following positions: Director of Pastoral Formation at the Grand Sèminaire de Montrèal; Director of Vocations (English Sector); Executive Director of the Diocesan Priesthood Guild; Collegial Judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Montreal; and until his appointment, Episcopal Vicar to the Anglophone Faithful and Director of the Office for English Pastoral Services.

Auxiliary Bishop Harris is bilingual in French and English and has a working knowledge of Spanish and Italian. He has also undertaken missionary work in Mexico and the Diocese of Moosonee and has acted as a conference Resource Person at a session for Seminary Formators of French-speaking Africa inYaoundè, Cameroun. On May 31, 2002 he was made a Chaplain to the Holy Father (C.S.S.). On December 12, 2002, Bishop Harris was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Titular Bishop of Trofimiana at St. Patrick’s Basilica, Montreal.