Bishop-elect Gérald Cyprien Lacroix

(April 7, 2009) His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today named Father Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, 51-year-old, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Quebec.

Gérald Cyprien Lacroix was born on July 27, 1957 in St-Hilaire-de-Dorset (Beauce) Québec. He is the eldest son of Raymond Lacroix and Brigitte Laurendeau and has six brothers and sisters.  At the age of 8, he immigrated with his family to Manchester, New Hampshire (United States) where he completed his primary school studies at the Parochial School St-Anthony and secondary studies at Trinity High School. He studied during one year at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.

In 1975, he joins the Pius X Secular Institute as a consecrated lay member. His first commitment is made in 1976 and pronounces his perpetual vows in 1982 in Québec. In 1982, he is also named secretary general of his Institute. In September of that same year, he starts his theological studies at Laval University where he obtains a master’s degree in pastoral theology. From 1985 to 1987, he is director of the Maison du Renouveau, a formation and Christian renewal centre. He is ordained to the priesthood on October 8, 1988 in Notre-Dame de Recouvrance parish, in Vanier, Québec.

In September 1990, he is named to lead a missionary team to establish a new region of the Pius X Secular Institute in the Archdiocese of Popayán in Colombia. From 1990 to 1993, he is pastor of Nuestra Señora del Carmen parish in Argelia, Cauca (Colombia). From 1993 to 1998, in addition to his activities as regional director of the Pius X Secular Institute, he is active at different levels in the Archdiocese of Popayán: member of the council of priests, member of the diocesan pastoral council, member of the social communications commission, head of the liturgical commission, professor at the Mayor Seminary of Popayán, president of the Cauca section of the Colombian Conference of Religious.

He is a member of the board of directors of the World Conference of Secular Institutes and member of the diocesan pastoral council of the Diocese of Québec. Since 2007, he is president of the Secretariat of the Saint Andrew School of Evangelization in Canada. 

In 2001, he was elected director general of the Pius X Secular Institute, a post he held at the time of his appointment.

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