Previous Bishops

Most Reverend John J. Myers, D.D., J.C.D.

Bishop of Peoria 1990-2001

Coadjutor 1987-1990

Archbishop John J. Myers, seventh Bishop of Peoria and the second native son in a row to hold that office, guided the Diocese of Peoria through a surge in priestly vocations, preparations for Jubilee Year 2000, establishment of a new Catholic high school, and many other projects to prepare for a new millennium.

Born July 26, 1941, in Ottawa to M.W. "Jack" and Margaret (Donahue) Myers, he was the first of the couple's seven children and was raised on a farm near Earlville in LaSalle County. A native of St. Theresa's Parish there, he attended St. Bede Academy but later returned to Earlville High School, graduating in 1959 at the top of his class.

The future bishop was not convinced of his vocation to the priesthood until the end of his freshman year at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. "God kept asking me" to a priest, he told Emmaus Days retreatants in 1995, "but I didn't pay a lot of attention at first." He switched to the college's seminary program in his sophomore year, graduated in 1963 and completed studies for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome.

Ordained December 17, 1966, at the Altar of the Chair at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, his first assignment was as an assistant at Holy Family Parish in Peoria. He then worked in the international affairs office of the U.S. Catholic Conference before returning to the diocese in 1971 to serve as an assistant at St. Matthew's Parish in Champaign.

In 1974 he began studies for a doctorate in canon law at the Catholic University of America. After he had earned his J.C.D. degree in 1977, Bishop Edward O'Rourke appointed him vice chancellor and vocations director. He served as vocations director and later as chancellor until his appointment as coadjutor bishop of Peoria in 1987. While serving as vocations director he launched the highly popular Emmaus Days vocation awareness retreats for young men.

For two and a half years after his Episcopal ordination on September 3, 1987, Bishop Myers assisted Bishop O'Rourke with various duties. He succeeded Bishop O'Rourke as Ordinary, or governing bishop, when Bishop O'Rourke announced his retirement on January 23, 1990.

Five months later, Bishop Myers released his first and most highly publicized pastoral message, "The Obligations of Catholics and the Rights of Unborn Children." The message drew national media attention for stating that "there is, and can be, no such thing as an authentic 'pro-choice' Catholic."

His next pastoral letter, "The Eucharist: Sacrifice of Love," announced plans for a Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in 1992, to be preceded by a year of special attention and devotion to the Eucharist.

Later pastoral letters included "To Reach Full Knowledge of the Truth " (1993) on Catholic education; "Make Yours a Holy Family" (1993); "A Fresh, Spiritual Way of Thinking" (1995) on chastity education; "Fathers Make Known to Children Your Faithfulness" (1997) on fatherhood; and "A Letter to My Brother Priests" (2001) on opportunities and lifestyles for senior or retired priests.

Bishop Myers ordained more than 80 new diocesan priests in his 11 1/2 years as bishop. In some years the Peoria diocese ordained as many or more priests than far larger sees such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, again gaining nation attention for bucking the long-standing trend of declining vocations.

He presided over a number of major diocese-wide events, including the 1992 Diocesan Eucharistic Congress, Mother Teresa's visit to Peoria in 1995, four Evangelization Congresses in preparation for the Jubilee Year, and a series of regional Masses and other events marking Jubilee Year 2000.

In 1998 he announced the creation of the diocese's first new Catholic high school in 35 years, The High School of St. Thomas More in Champaign, which opened in the fall of 2000. Also in 2000, he announced the creation the St. John Bosco Catechetical Institute, a program of formation and education for catechists.

He invited several new religious orders into the diocese, including Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, the Community of St. John, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George (Alton Franciscans), the Handmaids of Nazareth, the Rockford Poor Clares, and the Apostles of the Interior Life. With then-Bishop Charles Chaput of Rapid City, S.D., he formed a "sister diocese" relationship between the dioceses of Peoria and Rapid City, in 1994.

Bishop Myers was called to continue his ministry elsewhere on July 24, 2001, when the Vatican announced that he had been appointed archbishop of Newark to succeed Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. He was installed as the fifth Archbishop of Newark on October 9, 2001, and now shepherds 1.3 million Catholics in the nation's seventh-largest archdiocese.

Profiles of the bishops of the Diocese of Peoria compiled by Albina Aspell for The Catholic Post.