Jacques Delaporte

Jacques Delaporte (Roye-sur-Matz, Oise, 11 October 1926 – 21 November 1999, Jerusalem) was a French bishop who was archbishop of Cambrai. He was an officer of the Legion of Honour.

Biography
A graduate of HEC Paris, with a degree in law and theology (at the Pontifical Gregorian University), he was ordained priest on 25 July 1955 for the diocese of Beauvais.

First diocesan chaplain of the General Catholic Action from 1955 to 1962, he became national chaplain of the ACGF (General Women's Catholic Action) in Paris from 1962 to 1969.

He was appointed parish priest of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Beauvais from 1969 to 1971 then parish priest-archpriest of Compiègne where he was pastorally responsible for the agglomeration from 1971 to 1976. Appointed auxiliary bishop in Nancy on 22 June 1976, he was ordained bishop on 9 October 1976 by Jean Bernard, bishop of Nancy and Toul.

He took possession of the seat of archbishop of Cambrai on 25 April 1980, succeeding Henri-Martin Félix Jenny, the latter having reached the age limit of 75 years.

Responsible for the Unbelief Faith service from 1979 to 1982, he chaired the episcopal commission on Migration from 1982 to 1988, then directed the Justice and Peace1 commission from 1988 to 1999. At the installation of Delaporte, the diocese of Cambrai consisted of 459 parishes, with a total active workforce of 465 priests. The two decades that followed were marked by the new archbishop's concern to bring about diocesan renewal in the difficult context of the end of the 20th century.

This is how large deaneries and especially parish councils were successively set up, as well as sector teams, to which pastoral animation missions would soon be entrusted, with a view to new parishes, more adapted to evolution of the Church. A diocesan synod was convened in May 1998 on his initiative, following which “sharing groups” were born almost everywhere, intended to demonstrate a local Church.

He died suddenly on 21 November 1999 while he was on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The diocesan synod that he had convened a little over a year earlier was, in fact, suspended with his death.

He is buried in the archbishops' crypt of Cambrai Cathedral.