Here's a piece I wrote about the significance of his appointment to Canada's second largest See and that of other recent episcopal appointments in Quebec.
BTW, I always say about Archbishop Lepine that he can say the simplest thing, such as "Jesus loves you," and on the lips of someone else the words might be cloying, even grating because they seem pat or maybe hypocritical.
But when Archbishop Lepine says them, I feel trees budding, and flowers blooming, because the words have life. Jesus loves you! What Good News. What a difference when the man saying those words believes them from the depths of his being. This is what impressed me about him when I first met him two and a half years ago, when he was a simple priest.
Here is an excerpt of a story I wrote putting this appointment in the context of wider changes to the episcopacy in Quebec.
OTTAWA - Archbishop Christian Lépine's installation April 27 as archbishop of Montreal inaugurates a new era for the Quebec episcopacy, said a McGill University historian.
"Now there's a new generation of bishops who are very much in tune with the needs of young people in their dioceses, and this is crucial for the new evangelization," said John Zucchi.
A generation of bishops who were in their 70s, "many of them concerned with a 1970s and ’80s way of looking at the Church," have retired, replaced in recent years by a new age cohort that has "rejuvenated" the episcopacy and brought fresh perspective, Zucchi said.
"Now there's a new generation of bishops who are very much in tune with the needs of young people in their dioceses, and this is crucial for the new evangelization," said John Zucchi.
A generation of bishops who were in their 70s, "many of them concerned with a 1970s and ’80s way of looking at the Church," have retired, replaced in recent years by a new age cohort that has "rejuvenated" the episcopacy and brought fresh perspective, Zucchi said.
Lépine's appointment earlier this year, after only six months as auxiliary bishop, "came as a shock to some people," Zucchi said.
"He came out of left field. I don't think many people expected this," he said.
"In many ways, his appointment caught people by surprise the way Cardinal (Marc) Ouellet's caught people by surprise when he came back to Quebec. The surprising way in which it happened is a sign that it really was God's doing."
Ouellet, who in 2010 left Quebec to become Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, one of the top positions in the Holy See, advises Pope Benedict XVI on candidates for the episcopacy. Among other surprising and innovative appointments was that of Ouellet's replacement a little over a year ago, Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, who had served less than two years as one of Ouellet's auxiliary bishops.
Lépine and Lacroix's appointments book end a process that saw other significant new appointments over the past year, including that of Archbishop Luc Cyr to Sherbrooke, Archbishop Paul-André Durocher to Gatineau, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Dowd in Montreal, Bishop Noel Simard to Valleyfield and Bishop Luc Bouchard to Trois-Rivières. Both Durocher and Bouchard are Ontario francophones named to prominent roles in Quebec.
"He came out of left field. I don't think many people expected this," he said.
"In many ways, his appointment caught people by surprise the way Cardinal (Marc) Ouellet's caught people by surprise when he came back to Quebec. The surprising way in which it happened is a sign that it really was God's doing."
Ouellet, who in 2010 left Quebec to become Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, one of the top positions in the Holy See, advises Pope Benedict XVI on candidates for the episcopacy. Among other surprising and innovative appointments was that of Ouellet's replacement a little over a year ago, Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, who had served less than two years as one of Ouellet's auxiliary bishops.
Lépine and Lacroix's appointments book end a process that saw other significant new appointments over the past year, including that of Archbishop Luc Cyr to Sherbrooke, Archbishop Paul-André Durocher to Gatineau, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Dowd in Montreal, Bishop Noel Simard to Valleyfield and Bishop Luc Bouchard to Trois-Rivières. Both Durocher and Bouchard are Ontario francophones named to prominent roles in Quebec.
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