Cardinal Roger Mahony announced this week that Msgr. Craig Cox will become the next president/rector of St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, effective June 2007.

The recommendation of Msgr. Cox was made unanimously by the Seminary Board of Directors, said the cardinal. Msgr. Cox had served most recently as archdiocesan Vicar for Clergy, until being succeeded in July by Msgr. Michael Meyers.

At St. John's, Msgr. Cox will succeed Msgr. Helmut Hefner, who became president/rector of St. John's in 2001, and was unanimously renewed for a second three-year term by the Seminary Board of Directors in 2004. That second term ends in June 2007; his next assignment will be announced at a later date.

"I am so grateful to Msgr, Hefner for his six years of committed and wise leadership of St. John's Seminary," said Cardinal Mahony. "He was able to guide the Seminary through two accreditation processes whereby St. John's Seminary received the maximum accreditation from both WASC [Western Association of Schools and Colleges] and the ATS [Association of Theological Schools]. Both of these accreditations attest to his superb leadership of our Major Seminary these past six years."

Msgr. Cox, the cardinal said, has served "in very difficult and challenging years for all of us in the Church" as Vicar for Clergy. "He, like Msgr. Hefner, is a marvelous priest and a superb model of priestly spirituality and ministry."

Ordained for the archdiocese in 1978, Msgr. Cox served as archdiocesan Judicial Vicar before becoming Vicar for Clergy in early 2003. He will be moving to the Seminary next spring to get to know the faculty, staff and students, preparing for his formal assumption of his leadership role, Cardinal Mahony said.

Msgr. Hefner, ordained for the archdiocese in 1969, has been a professor in Canon Law at St. John's Seminary since 1994, and earlier served as pastor of St. Christopher Church in West Covina. Like Msgr. Cox, he has also served on the archdiocesan Tribunal.

"Please continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood, to encourage our seminarians, and to encourage men to listen to the voice of Jesus Christ possibly calling them," said Cardinal Mahony.