USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Pope Accepts Bishop Montrose's Resignation, Names Bishop Blaire to Stockton; Bishop Driscoll is Appointed to the Diocese of Boise

Pope Accepts Bishop Montrose's Resignation, Names Bishop Blaire to Stockton; Bishop Driscoll is Appointed to the Diocese of Boise

WASHINGTON (January 18, 1999)--Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bishop Donald W. Montrose, 75, of Stockton and named Auxiliary Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Los Angeles to succeed him.

The Pope appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael P. Driscoll of Orange as Bishop of Boise, Idaho. Bishop Driscoll succeeds the Most Reverend Tod D. Brown who was appointed Bishop of Orange last June 29.

The Apostolic Nunciature to the United States made the announcements.

Stephen Edward Blaire was born in Los Angeles, December 22, 1941. He attended Queen of Angels Seminary, San Fernando, and St. John's College and Seminary in Camarillo, and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, April 29, 1967.

He taught at Alemany High School, Mission Hills, and at Bishop Ama High School, La Puente, and served as a Newman chaplain at Pierce College, Woodland Hills, and as Principal of Alemany High School.

Bishop Blaire was appointed Moderator of the Curia and Chancellor of the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1986. He was serving in these positions when he was named Titular Bishop of Lamzella and Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, March 20, 1990.

Donald W. Montrose was born in Denver, May 13, 1923. After studies at Immaculate Heart College and St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, he was ordained for the Los Angeles archdiocese, May 7, 1949. He was named Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, March 25, 1983 and appointed Bishop of Stockton on December 17, 1985.

The diocese of Stockton was established January 13, 1962. It comprises 10,023 square miles and six counties in the State of California: Alpine, Calaveras, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne. It has a Catholic population of 180,678 in a total population of 1,051,540.

Michael Patrick Driscoll was born in Los Angeles on August 8, 1939. He attended elementary school at Our Lady of Victory in Compton, California, and entered the junior seminary at Our Lady Queen of the Angels in 1953. After studies at St. John Seminary in Camarillo, he was ordained May 1, 1965.

Subsequently, he served as an associate pastor of parishes in Los Angeles and Burbank. He did graduate study in social work at the University of Southern California. He served as Chancellor, Vicar for Religious and Vicar for Charities in the diocese of Orange and was serving as Vicar General of that diocese when he was named Titular Bishop of Massita and Auxiliary Bishop of Orange, December 19, 1989.

The diocese of Boise which Bishop Driscoll will head was established as a Vicariate-Apostolic in 1868 and erected as a diocese in 1893. It comprises the State of Idaho and has a Catholic population of 120,000 in a total population of 1.2 million.