Sault Diocese Auxiliary Bishop Appointed Bishop of Quebec Diocese

Written by admin on 31 December 2011

Bishop Noel Simard. Photo courtesy CCCB

From: Bishop’s Office – Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, ON,

Friday morning (Dec 30, 2011) in Rome, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI announced the appointment of the Most Reverend Noël Simard, as Bishop of Valleyfield, Quebec. Since his episcopal ordination on October 3, 2008 until today, Bishop Simard has served as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste . Marie .

In response, Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie says: “Bishop Simard will be missed by the people , the priests and the deacons of our diocese . Personally , I am losing a very competent and dedicated immediate collaborator. In a short period, Bishop Noë l had befriended many . We will always remember him for his generosity. Wherever he went, he radiated energy and hope for the future. We wish him well as he undertakes this new responsibility and we assure him of our prayers and most sincere gratitude.”

Bishop Simard becomes the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Valleyfield. The Diocese was established on April 5, 1892 and is part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Montreal. It serves a population of 199,390 Roman Catholics living in a territory of 3,225 square kilometres with three important urban centres: Vaudreuil-Dorion, Châteauguay and Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. The twenty-six parishes and missions are served by 64 diocesan priests, 12 religious priests, 17 deacons, 42 pastoral assistants, 17 religious brothers and 76 religious women.

In an interview by Brian Kelly of the Sault Star, Simard was quoted “I’m sad to leave the diocese of Sault Ste. Marie because it’s a great diocese. I enjoyed very much working here,”. In the same interview, Simard points out “Can you imagine? In one hour I can visit all my parishes of my diocese,”. Valleyfield is a smaller diocese, with fewer parishes and geographic breadth than the Sault Ste. Marie Diocese; there are 26 parishes and missions. The diocese covers 3,200 square kilometres while the Sault diocese runs 1,200 kilometres from Temagami in the east to Manitouwadge in the west.

Simard, 64, is the 11th of 13 children. His surviving siblings are in Quebec City, Trois Riveries and Rochester, N.Y. Other family are in the Charlevoix region near his hometown of St-Aime-des-Lacs, northeast of Quebec City and he has said he is happy to go back to Quebec and be closer to his family.

During his time in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Bishop Simard served as Vicar General and Co-ordinator of Pastoral Services in the French Pastoral Regions of Nipissing and Sudbury/Algoma and the English Pastoral Region of Sudbury. He was also a member of several Episcopal Commissions, Councils and Committees for the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario (ACBO) as well as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Bishop Simard was Chaplain of the Ontario State Council for the Knights of Columbus and is currently president of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The date of Bishop Simard’s installation as Bishop of Valleyfield will be announced in the near future.