The Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, CSB, was born in Ottawa, Canada, on July 9, 1946.  After attending Catholic schools there, he went to the University of Toronto for a year before entering the novitiate of the Basilian Fathers, making his first profession on September 12, 1966.  Ten years later, on June 29, 1975, Pope Paul VI ordained him a priest, and on November 23, 2003 Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Archbishop of Vertara, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Vice President of the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations.  His episcopal ordination took place in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 12, 2004.  On June 1, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, BC, Canada.  His Mass of Welcome to the Archdiocese took place on August 28, 2007.  Archbishop Miller is a member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses and of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People as well as a consultor to the Congregation for Bishops.

Archbishop Miller’s original field of academic interest was Latin American Studies in which he earned his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Toronto (1969) and his Master’s at the University of Wisconsin (1970).  After teaching high school for a year, he completed his Master of Divinity at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, in 1974, and then spent from 1974-1979 in Rome, where he completed his licentiate and doctorate in Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

In 1979 Archbishop Miller joined the faculty of the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and, subsequently served as its Chair and as Dean of the School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary.  In 1990, he was named the University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs.

From 1992 to 1997 Miller worked in the English-language section of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and on July 1, 1997 he became the seventh president of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, a position which he held until January 2004. 

Archbishop Miller is a prolific writer.  A specialist on the papacy and modern papal teaching, he has published seven books and more than 100 articles, scholarly, popular and journalistic.  His books include The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy (1995) and the Encyclicals of John Paul II (2^nd ed., 2001).

Archbishop Miller has served on numerous boards, including the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, Mental Health Association of Greater Houston, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart (Houston), Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.  He was also assistant chaplain of Legatus, and is currently a member of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.Archbishop Miller has received honorary doctorates from St. Michael’s College (Vermont), University of Dallas (Texas), University of St. Thomas (Texas) and University of Steubenville (Ohio) and the Australian Catholic University (Sydney).

February 18, 2008