54 Facts About Adam Exner

Adam Exner was the Archbishop of Vancouver from 1991 until 2004, having previously served as the Bishop of Kamloops and Archbishop of Winnipeg.

Adam Exner entered the Oblate novitiate outside Winnipeg, before studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Adam Exner was appointed Bishop of Kamloops in 1974 and was consecrated that same year.

Adam Exner was noted for calling the first diocesan synod in Vancouver that allowed for the laity to participate.

Adam Joseph Exner was born in Killaly, Saskatchewan, on Christmas Eve of 1928.

Adam Exner was the youngest of eight children of Joseph and Frances.

Adam Exner's parents were Bukovina Germans who moved to Canada as children.

Adam Exner's father was originally from Molodiia, while his mother came from Derelui.

Adam Exner grew up in a humble farming household that lacked electricity, tap water, and central heating.

Adam Exner completed his primary education at Flegel School, a single-room rural school located 2.5 miles away from where he lived.

Adam Exner started learning the accordion without the help of a teacher before enrolling in kindergarten.

Adam Exner continued to play polkas and waltzes on the instrument well after he became bishop.

Adam Exner left school temporarily after eighth grade, in order to work on the family farm.

Adam Exner felt a calling to the priesthood in the summer of 1946.

Adam Exner obtained two master's degrees from that institution.

Adam Exner proceeded to complete a Doctorate of Theology at the University of Ottawa within two years.

Adam Exner subsequently taught at the Oblate seminary of St Charles Scholasticate in Battleford as professor of moral theology from 1960 to 1972 and served as its rector for six of those years.

Adam Exner led several retreats during this time, primarily for his fellow clergymen and religious.

Adam Exner later recounted how he had no intention of becoming a bishop.

Adam Exner cited his lack of pastoral and administrative experience as reasons why he would be unsuitable for the position.

Adam Exner remonstrated with Joseph MacNeil, the Archbishop of Edmonton who had informed him of the Holy See's decision, but to no avail.

Adam Exner ultimately acquiesced to the appointment only out of obedience to the church.

Adam Exner stated that he did not want anyone to behave differently towards him after his elevation to the episcopacy.

Adam Exner had previously always resided in a community, either with his fellow Oblates or in the seminaries where he taught.

Adam Exner remarked that this change was "not easy", but he eventually "got used to it".

Adam Exner saw his transfer to Winnipeg as a homecoming of sorts.

Adam Exner welcomed Pope John Paul II to Winnipeg in September 1984, as part of the latter's first visit to Canada.

Adam Exner directed the cessation of a monthly Tridentine Mass in late 1986, pointing to declining attendance as the reason for abandoning the 22-month long trial run within the archdiocese.

Adam Exner found that he was sometimes "labelled as too conservative, and sometimes as too liberal" and that his goal was simply to "combat the idea that Catholics can pick and choose which dogma to accept".

In contrast to his immediate predecessor, James Carney, Adam Exner was perceived as being comfortable speaking to the media, having personally responded to a phone call by the Vancouver Sun shortly after his appointment without having to go through a secretary.

Adam Exner emphasized that he was not asking for anyone to condone what O'Connor did, adding that "there's a big difference between condoning and forgiveness".

Adam Exner admitted that he "made a real mistake in speaking of the pain of the women and that of Bishop O'Connor in the same breath".

Adam Exner was a delegate at the Synod of Bishops for Asia, held in Rome from April to May 1998.

Adam Exner was the only bishop from Canada to be invited to that meeting.

Adam Exner reckoned that this was in recognition of Vancouver's sizable immigrant population from Asia that is apparent in its parishes.

Adam Exner subsequently remained in Vancouver, moving into the Oblate Provincial House, before returning to Saskatchewan shortly before his death.

Adam Exner revealed in court testimony that he suffered a stroke in 2015 that had "shattered [his] memory".

Adam Exner died on September 5,2023, at his home in Grayson, Saskatchewan.

Adam Exner worked with other religious groups involved in healthcare in obtaining a legal agreement with Michael Harcourt, the Premier of British Columbia, in 1995.

Adam Exner voiced his opposition to efforts by Colin Hansen, the provincial Minister of Health, to close St Mary's Hospital in New Westminster.

Adam Exner was closely involved with the efforts to prevent the closure of Vancouver College and St Thomas More Collegiate at the turn of the millennium.

Adam Exner was of the opinion that the court's judgment was unjustified, since the schools were not owned by the order and had been financed by local Catholics in the decades before the liquidation.

Adam Exner said that he had "no problem with the Mount Cashel claimants" being compensated.

Adam Exner assisted Covenant House, a home for runaway street kids, in establishing a branch of its services into Vancouver.

Adam Exner noted that he had not read the editorial before it was published, and delivered a press release that unequivocally denounced the murder.

Adam Exner spoke before the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in September 1994.

Adam Exner added that the group's regard was founded on "the unswerving belief that human life and dignity must be respected and protected without exception".

Adam Exner was vocal in his opposition to the provincial government's plan in 1998 of expanding the pension benefits of public servants to encompass those with same-sex partners.

Adam Exner maintained that this would constitute a redefinition of marriage, which was unacceptable because "biologically, such couples are not equipped to be husband and wife".

Adam Exner instead proposed that these benefits be extended to anyone in a stable and caring relationship.

Adam Exner defended himself when informed of Stevenson's swipe, commenting: "Let me assure you I have consistently taught respect for every person, regardless of whether they're homosexual or not".

Adam Exner instructed four Catholic schools in the Greater Vancouver area to divest from a school banking program operated by Vancity in September 2003.

However, in a letter to the Vancouver Sun explaining the reasoning behind the decision, Adam Exner wrote that it boiled down to Vancity's "support for causes opposed to Catholic morals [that] went far beyond ads featuring same-sex couples".

Adam Exner stated that the credit union was participating in an "objectionable cause" in their public support for "agendas which are worrisome and harmful to the church and to society".