WASHINGTON (July 8, 1999) -- Pope John Paul II has appointed the Reverend Monsignor Leonard P. Blair, pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, as Titular Bishop of Voncariana and Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.

Leonard P. Blair was born in Detroit, December 12, 1949.

After graduating from local primary and secondary schools, he studied philosophy at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. He attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome and did theological studies at the Gregorian University. In 1977 he earned a doctorate in theology at the Angelicum, and in 1978 received a licentiate in theology, specializing in historical and patristical studies.

Msgr. Blair was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit on June 26, 1976.

He was associate pastor at Regina Pacis church, Harper Woods, from 1976 to 1977, at St. Christopher's, Detroit, from 1978 to 1980, and at St. Paul's, Grosse Pointe Farms, from 1980 to 1982. He was archdiocesan archivist from 1982 to 1983.

Bishop-designate Blair was Secretary to the then-Archbishop Edmund Szoka of Detroit from 1983 to 1986, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State from 1986 to 1991, professor at Sacred Heart Seminary and archdiocesan Director for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs from 1991 to 1994. From 1994 to 1997, he was Secretary to Cardinal Szoka, by then President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

Msgr. Blair was named "Chaplain of His Holiness" in 1990, and was appointed pastor of St. Paul's in 1997.

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