Opening Remarks: The Most Reverend Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv.
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
GICC Exhibit Hall C, D
Archbishop Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM, Conv.
Archbishop Hartmayer, son of the late John and Sally Hartmayer, was born on Nov. 21, 1951 in Buffalo, New York. He was raised in Tonawanda, New York.
Archbishop Hartmayer attended Cardinal O’Hara High School and graduated in 1969. Upon graduation, he joined the Conventual Franciscan Friars at their Novitiate of St. Joseph Cupertino in Ellicott City, Maryland. He professed simple vows there on Aug. 15, 1970. Archbishop Hartmayer then pursued studies at St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, Massachusetts, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1974. Meanwhile, he professed solemn vows as a Conventual Franciscan Friar on Aug. 15, 1973.
After graduating from college, Archbishop Hartmayer was assigned to teach at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1974 through 1975. He then entered theological studies at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1979.
He was ordained a priest on May 5, 1979, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, New York.
Archbishop Hartmayer earned a Master of Arts degree in pastoral counseling from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980 and a Master of Education degree in secondary Catholic school administration from Boston College in 1992.
After his ordination to the priesthood, Archbishop Hartmayer was assigned as a guidance counselor to Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, where he later served as principal from 1985 to 1987. He was appointed principal at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Tonawanda, New York, for the 1988-89 academic year, and then became principal of St. Francis High School in Hamburg, New York.
In January of 1995, he was assigned to the faculty at John Carroll High School in Fort Pierce, Florida.
On Aug. 15, 1995, Archbishop Hartmayer was named pastor of St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro, where he served for 15 years. In July of 2010, he was appointed pastor of St. John Vianney parish in Lithia Springs, until being named the 14th Bishop of Savannah, on July 19, 2011, by Pope Benedict XVI.
Archbishop Hartmayer’s episcopal ordination took place at the Cathedral of John the Baptist in Savannah on Oct. 18, 2011.
While ministering in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Archbishop Hartmayer served as a member of the College of Consultors, the Committee for the Ongoing Education of Priests, as coordinator of the mentoring program for newly ordained priests and chairman of the Council of Priests. While serving as a pastor in Atlanta, he was elected to the National Board of Directors for the Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy.
During the eight years as Bishop of Savannah, two parochial schools were rebuilt, three new churches were built, a new parish was created, and a new parochial high school was created in Albany.
Archbishop Hartmayer is a member of the USCCB Committee on Communications and the Committee on National Collections. He is also the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Catholic Communication Campaign. He serves on the boards of directors of the National Catholic Educational Association and The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.