Pastor to become Archbishop

Yesterday, Father Gerard Pettipas, C.Ss.R., was pastor of St. Joseph’s parish in Grande Prairie, Alberta, in the northern Alberta Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan .

This morning, he is the Archbishop-elect, the Holy Father having named him as successor to the retiring Archbishop Arthé Guimond.

Archbishop-elect Pettipas was born in 1950 in Halifax, Nova Scotia; obtained a Bachelor of Arts at Holy Redeemer Redemptorist College in Windsor, Ontario, in 1971 and began studying at Montreal’s Redemptorist Formation House the same year; made his first profession in 1973; and was ordained a priest in 1977.

He served in parishes in Newfoundland until 1980, in formation ministry in Toronto from 1980 until 1990, as Director of the Holy Redeemer College Retreat Centre in Windsor 1990-1992, back to Toronto for youth ministry 1992-1995, and pastor of St. Patrick parish in Toronto 1995-1999. He has been pastor at St. Joseph’s parish in Grande Prairie since 1999.

The Holy Father today also named

• Father Joseph Chusak Sirisut, 50, as Bishop of Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, to replace the retiring Bishop Joachim Phayao Mansap. Bishop-elect Sirisut is a professor at the national major seminary.
• Bishop Immanuel Bushu as the new Bishop of Buéa, Cameroon, to replace the retiring Bishop Pius Suh Awa. Bishop Bushu had been Bishop of Yagoua.
• Father Christophe Zoa, 45, as auxiliary bishop of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Bishop-elect Zoa was ordained in 1991, has a doctorate in Canon Law, and is currently the Chancellor of the Diocese.