Auxiliary Bishop Richard John Grecco (2002 -    )

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Richard John Grecco was born in St. Catharines, Ontario on March 4, 1946. He studied at St. Augustine’s Seminary, Toronto, before being ordained priest on September 2, 1973.

Father Grecco studied at the Gregorian University in Rome and in 1982 received a Doctor of Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto.

After being ordained he was associate pastor at St. Denis Parish, St. Catharines, before leaving in 1977 to join the faculty of St. Augustine’s Seminary. Since then he has been involved in education and has held various teaching positions, including director of religious education for the diocese of St. Catharines. There he coordinated programs and established a diocesan quarterly newspaper, Vineyard.

Bp. Grecco was an assistant professor of moral theology at St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, in 1992 and a sessional lecturer in Christian ethics at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto.

On December 5, 1997, he was appointed titular bishop of Uccla, and auxiliary bishop of London and was ordained February 2, 1998, after moving from St. Catharines where he was serving as Pastor of St. Alfred’s Church.

Bp. Grecco was appointed auxiliary bishop of Toronto April 27, 2002, and was welcomed at a Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral on June 13, 2002.

Bp. Grecco serves on the board of directors of the Catholic Health Association of Ontario and on the education commission for the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is also chair of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Episcopal commission for the English sector on Christian education and is an Episcopal advisor to the Third Continental Congress on Vocations.

With his appointment, Bp. Grecco was assigned vicar for religious communities of men and women for the archdiocese and responsibility for the Eastern and Northern regions of the Archdiocese. Upon the appointment of Bp. De Angelis to Peterborough in 2002, Bp. Grecco became responsible for the Central region of the Archdiocese and Episcopal Vicar for Ethnic Communities.