Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta
Msgr. Gary Anthony Franken, vicar general of the archdiocese of Vancouver, was born on 25 September 1962 in Vancouver. At the age of 19 he entered Saint Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario. On 13 May 1989 he was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Vancouver. After six years as parish vicar, he continued his studies in Rome at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, where he was awarded a licentiate in theology in 1997. He subsequently received a diploma in spirituality from the same university. After returning to the diocese, for two years he led vocational pastoral care before becoming parish priest of the Saint Francis de Sales parish in Burnaby in 1998, and then of the Immaculate Conception parish in Delta (2003-2010), and the Saint Anthony parish in West Vancouver (2011-2022). In 2011 he was appointed as episcopal vicar for priestly life and then, in 2015, dean of the North Shore Deanery. Since 2016 he has served as vicar general of the archdiocese of Vancouver. He is currently a member of the Archepiscopal Council, the archdiocesan Pastoral Council, the College of Consultors and the Presbyteral Council.