J. Michael Miller

John Michael Miller, CSB (born July 9, 1946) is a Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church.

Miller was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on July 9, 1946.

He was raised in an interdenominational household.

His father, Albert Miller, was a Catholic who first worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and later as a salesman; his mother, Katharine Rob, was a descendant of Scottish Loyalists and was a lifelong member of the United Church of Canada.

Miller attended St. Joseph's High School in his hometown, where he was chosen as student body president and was classmates with Mary Lou Finlay.

He had polio as a child, and the effects of the illness have persisted into adulthood.

He consequently opted for non-contact sports and activities like debating, swimming, and school drama productions.

One of these productions was Our Town, in which he played George opposite Finlay as Emily.

Miller went on to study at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto.

At the end of his first year of studies, he joined the Congregation of St. Basil, completing his noviceship and taking his first vows on September 12, 1966.

He went back to St. Michael's as a seminarian, obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1969, and was awarded the Governor General's Academic Medal for graduating first in his class.

He undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, receiving a master's degree in Latin American studies in 1970.

He then taught at St. Joseph's High School (his alma mater) for one year, before earning a Master of Divinity from St. Michael's in 1974.

He was ordained a priest in 1975.

He completed a licentiate and doctoral degree in dogmatic theology and went on to teach at UST.

On June 29, 1975, Miller was ordained to the Catholic priesthood at St. Peter's Square by Pope Paul VI, and was one of 359 men ordained by the Pope in the same ceremony.

After his ordination, Miller continued his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining a licentiate in dogmatic theology in 1976 before being awarded a doctorate three years later (graduating summa cum laude in both instances).

He then relocated to Houston, where he taught as a professor of dogmatic theology at the University of St. Thomas (UST).

He later became the department chair and dean of its School of Theology, before being promoted to vice president of academic affairs in 1990.

He moved back to Rome in 1992 to work as an assistant in the English-language division of the Secretariat of State.

He also taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University as an adjunct professor of theology from 1994 to 1996.

After a five-year stint in Rome working at the Secretariat of State, he returned to UST and became its president in 1997.

Miller returned to UST in 1997, becoming its seventh president on July 1 that year.

During his tenure, he initiated a $65 million capital campaign, which was twice the amount of any previous fundraising goal set by the university.

The drive raised $67 million and received generous contributions from local non-Catholic philanthropists such as George P. Mitchell and Jack S. Blanton.

He was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education in 2002 and was consecrated the following year.

Miller became a naturalized American citizen in 2002.

He served as president up until his appointment as bishop, and was succeeded on an interim basis by Joseph McFadden, his immediate predecessor.

He appointed Sandra Magie as dean of UST's School of Theology in April 2003, making her one of only a handful of women to lead such a school at a Catholic institution.

Miller was appointed as the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education on November 23, 2003, as well as vice president of the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations.

He was consequently assigned the titular see of Vertara with the rank of archbishop.

He was consecrated bishop on January 12, 2004, at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica.

Zenon Grocholewski, the prefect of the aforementioned congregation, serving as the principal consecrator, with nearly 400 of Miller's friends and family travelling to Rome to be in attendance.

He was named coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 2007, before assuming the office of archbishop two years later.

Miller has been noted for overseeing the construction of the archdiocese's new administrative headquarters and starting its permanent diaconate program.

He also appointed the committee that examined historical sex abuse by clergy in the archdiocese and published its findings in a report, purportedly the first in Canada.

He is the Archbishop of Vancouver, succeeding to the position in 2009 after serving as its coadjutor archbishop and as Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Prior to his appointment as bishop, he was a professor and academic administrator at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston.

Miller was born and raised in Ottawa, where he completed his secondary education.

He entered the Basilian novitiate after his first year of studies at St. Michael's College in Toronto.