Archbishop Richard G. Henning has appointed Msgr. Robert Oliver to serve as vicar general, effective Dec. 1, 2025. He succeeds Bishop Mark O'Connell, who has served as vicar general since Jan. 1, 2023, and was installed as the 11th Bishop of Albany, New York, on Dec. 5.

Essentially serving as the archdiocese's "second-in-command," the vicar general assists the archbishop in the executive functions of governing the archdiocese. He is the archdiocese's highest-ranking appointed official and has full authority over matters that the archbishop has not reserved for himself or delegated to others under church law.

Previously, Msgr. Oliver had served as the archdiocese's judicial vicar since Sept. 1, 2022. In that role, he was responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the Metropolitan Tribunal, the archdiocese's chief court, and dealing with canonical legal cases and appeals submitted to the tribunal.

In a November email to archdiocesan staff announcing the appointment, Archbishop Henning said, "Msgr. Oliver brings a wealth of experience here in the Archdiocese of Boston and in his service to the Universal Church in the Roman Curia. His expertise in Canon Law and in theology will be most helpful to me and to the Archdiocesan Central Ministries."

Msgr. Oliver moved to Boston in 1994 as a member of the Brotherhood of Hope, a community of religious brothers serving campus ministries throughout the U.S. He grew up in New York and graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in history in 1982. He was part of the first Pre-Theology class at St. John's Seminary (1983), and taught in a Catholic high school (1984-1988). He then studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, finishing with a doctoral degree in ecclesiology (1996).

Msgr. Oliver was a seminarian at St. John's Seminary and served in St. Bonaventure Parish in Plymouth (1997-2000) and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston in 2000. He was appointed as a professor of theology and of canon law at the Seminary (2000-2010) and received a doctoral degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America (2002). During his years in Boston, he has served at many campus ministries, including Boston University, Umass Lowell, and Northeastern.

Over the past 25 years, he has served in many canonical roles, including judge, promoter of justice, advisor for several dioceses and religious communities, and an instructor for training diocesan officials across the U.S. to implement the bishops' reforms responding to sexual abuse committed by clergy.

In the Archdiocese of Boston, he was director of the office of the delegate (2002-2004), special assistant to vicar general/moderator of the curia (2010-2012). After teaching at Catholic University as a visiting professor of canon law (2010-2012), he served as the promoter of justice at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2012-2014) and as secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (2014-2021). He has been active in the Canon Law Society of America and was elected to the Board of Governors (2023) and in October 2025 as vice-president/president-elect of the Society.

In 2021, after returning to the Archdiocese from Rome, Msgr. Was a faculty member at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary (2021-2023), earned an M.B.A. degree from Northeastern University (2023), and was the judicial vicar (2022-2025). He has also been serving in pastoral ministry at St. Francis and St. Clare in Braintree since 2022.