Moncton priest ordained bishop tonight

Rev. Daniel Bohan honoured to be named auxiliary bishop of Toronto but sad to be leaving Hub City

Father Daniel Bohan will be ordained tonight  as the auxiliary Bishop of Toronto during a  service at St. Augustine’s Church in Moncton.  RON WARD/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

After receiving word that he was being made an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Toronto, Moncton priest Rev. Daniel Bohan says his first reaction to the news was bittersweet. "It is a great honour and a challenge, for sure, to be chosen for this position," he said yesterday in an interview. "But there is also a bit of sadness on having to leave, here, where I have been a priest for so many years, and on leaving all my family and friends. "I enjoyed growing up in Moncton, enjoyed the schools and enjoyed serving as a priest in the area. I love the city," said the 61-year-old Bohan. He is scheduled to be ordained tonight at St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church in Moncton, starting at 7 p.m. Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, the archbishop of Toronto, will on hand to conduct the ordination. "It is open to everyone," said Bohan. "There is loads of room, here and anybody wanting to attend is warmly welcomed to do so," he said. Normally, said the Moncton priest, a bishop is ordained at the site for which he is bound. "But the archbishop decided it would better to have it done here, so that my family and the people from the community could come to see it." However, there will a "welcoming ceremony" for him later in Toronto to welcome him into the archdiocese, he said, noting he will be assuming his new position later in the summer.

He never anticipated being promoted to a bishop in one of Canada's largest Roman Catholic dioceses, said Bohan. He was in England for the burial of a friend, when he received the news. He said Bishop Luigi Ventura, the apostolic nuncio in Ottawa, tracked him down, , and informed him of the appointment.
"I was surprised," said Bohan, adding the idea of being promoted to a bishop was something that never occurred to him. 

There are three auxiliary bishops in the Archdiocese of Toronto who assist the archbishop, with each one being responsible for one region of the diocese, he explained. His responsibility will be for the northern and eastern section and he will work out of the city of Barrie, Ont., about an hour's drive north of Toronto.

He said he will live in the "bishop's residence" in Barrie.

To give an idea of the magnitude of his new role, compared to the various parishes where he was posted in Moncton, Bohan noted there are1.5-million Catholics in Toronto, alone. He said that is more than twice the total population of New Brunswick.

He travelled to Toronto to meet with the archbishop and the two other auxiliary bishop since getting the word of his appointment. "I was warmly welcomed and they were very gracious and kind to me. I am looking forward to working with them."

Bohan said he wanted to be a priest from the time he was a young boy. "It was something I always had in mind," he said.

He was born in Yarmouth, N.S., but his family moved to Moncton when he was only five years old. He went to Mountain Road School and later attended and graduated from Moncton High School. "I have friends in Moncton who go back to Grade 1 with me," he said.

It is a very special feeling, said Bohan, to have his ordination as bishop occur at St. Augustine's Church. It was his parish when he was growing up; it is the church where he was ordained as a priest in 1967; and it is where he began his religious career as a curate.

"I could not think of a better place for it," he said.

After finishing his two years as curate at St. Augustine's, Bohan served as parish priest for churches in Port Elgin, Melrose, Rexton and South Branch, before returning to the Metro Moncton area in 1986 as the priest for the Immaculate Heart of Mary's Church in Riverview.

Currently, he is the parish priest responsible for both the St. Bernard's and Holy Family churches in Moncton.

He said his mother Rita Bohan, who is in her 80s, had "mixed emotions" about his promotion to bishop. "She is very pleased I have been given the appointment, but is saddened that it is so far away from home."

In his duties in the Archdiocese of Toronto, instead of working as a priest, Bohan said he will be working with a lot of other priests. "But I am certainly in a position to have a good understanding of their concerns. After 34 years of being a priest, I know all about them," he laughed.

Quick facts
A chronological outline of Rev. Daniel Bohan's career as a Roman Catholic priest:

1967 - He was ordained as a priest at St. Augustine's Church in Moncton.

1967-77 - He served as a curate at St. Augustine's.

1977-84 - He was the parish priest forboth St. Clement's Church in Port Elgin and St. Bartholomew's Church in Melrose.

1984-86 - He was pastor for both Immaculate Conception Church in Rexton and St. Peter's Church in South Branch.

1986-2001 - He was parish priest for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Riverview.

2001 - He became the pastor for St. Bernard's and Holy Family churches, both in Moncton, a position he currently holds. Later this summer, he will assume his new responsibilities as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Toronto.