Bishop Richard Joseph Malone is the 11th Bishop of Portland, Maine. He was installed as Bishop of Portland in 2004 after serving as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Boston, South Region, following his Episcopal ordination in 2000.
Bishop Malone was born in Salem, MA, and graduated from St. John’s Preparatory School, Danvers. He studied at Cardinal O’Connell Seminary in Jamaica Plain and graduated from St. John Seminary, Boston, with a bachelor’s in Philosophy, a bachelor’s in Divinity and a master’s in Theology. Bishop Malone subsequently earned a Doctorate in Theology (Th.D.) at Boston University and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) at Weston Jesuit School of Theology.
Bishop Malone was ordained a priest in 1972 and was assigned to St. Patrick parish, Stoneham, as Associate Pastor. He served on the faculty of St. Clement High School, Somerville, MA; Xaverian High School, Westwood, MA; and his alma mater St. John Seminary. Concurrent with his time at St. John Seminary, he was part-time chaplain at Wellesley and Regis Colleges and taught at Emmanuel College in Boston. Later he was assigned as Chaplain to the Harvard-Radcliffe Catholic Student Center. In 1993, he accepted the position of Director of the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Boston and subsequently was named Secretary for Education.
Bishop Malone currently chairs the Evangelization and Catechesis Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He serves on other USCCB committees as well as sitting on the Board of two Seminaries. Bishop Malone was elected to the Board of Catholic Relief Services in 2010 and serves on the U.S. Operations Committee.