WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis has named Monsignor Marc V. Trudeau as a new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Aug. 6, 1991, Trudeau, 60, is currently rector of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, a post he has held since 2014. He joined the seminary’s faculty as vice rector and assistant director of pastoral formation in 2013.

The appointment was announced in Washington April 5 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Two days earlier, the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Thomas J. Curry, 75, as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope when they turn 75.

Trudeau will be ordained a bishop by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez June 7 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Gomez called the appointment of a new auxiliary “a great day of joy for the family of God here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.”

“Our bishop-elect is a very fine priest. He is a man of prayer and he is a man of service,” the archbishop said. “I know he is going to be, as Pope Francis likes to say, ‘a shepherd who knows the smell of his sheep.'”

As a priest, Trudeau “has always had a heart for his people,” he added. “He is close to them in their joys and sorrows and in the challenges they face in their everyday lives. So, I know that he is going to be a great bishop.”

“As you will discover, our new auxiliary bishop has a great personal story,” Gomez added.

In Angelus News, the archdiocesan online news outlet, reporter Pablo Kay noted that Trudeau “is a twin, a former dentist, and he is proud to say he put himself through school working long hours as a stock clerk and box boy for a local Vons grocery store.”

“He is also a proud Trojan, with two degrees from the University of Southern California. And he is a cancer survivor,” Kay said in a precede to a Q-and-A with the newly named bishop.

“Msgr. Marc Trudeau may not come with the average bishop’s resume, but that may be precisely why Pope Francis has chosen him to be the newest auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles. He joins five other active auxiliary bishops in assisting Archbishop Jose H. Gomez with the spiritual care of the nation’s largest archdiocese,” Kay wrote.

Asked what has been the best part of being a priest, Trudeau said: “I would say Sunday Mass is really when we’re ‘on’: preaching, baptisms, all the stuff that comes to you on Sundays. At a number of my parishes, that’s when we did religious education, RCIA, so Sunday is the day for parish priests”

“My brothers and sisters tell me that I only work one day a week. Of course, it’s not true: There’s a lot that goes into preparing for it, but it is a lot of work on Sunday!” he continued. “We tell the guys here at the seminary that you can’t just rest on Sundays, it’s a day of evangelizing, preaching, visiting, being present to the people. That’s the day that they’re able to come, so you have to be present to them.”

A native of Los Angeles, Trudeau was born May 20, 1957, in Hollywood. He has two brothers and two sisters. His brother Michael is his fraternal twin. “We argue over who’s better looking, but he’s definitely the nicer one,” the bishop-designate quipped in his interview with Angelus News.

He earned his bachelor of science degree in biological sciences from the University of Southern California. He also attended the University of Southern California School of Dentistry (1981-1985) before entering St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo for philosophy and theological studies (1986-1991).

After his priestly ordination in 1991, Trudeau served in several parishes in the archdiocese. After his assignment as pastor of St. Pius X Church in Santa Fe Springs (2001-2004), he was priest secretary to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony (2004-2010). The next three years he was pastor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church in Lomita, then he joined the faculty at St. John’s Seminary.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles covers over 8,600 square miles in Southern California. Out of a total population of more than 11.5 million people, more than 4 million, or about 35 percent, are Catholic.