Msgr Bernard Bourgeois (Fr Bernie) is the pastor of Rutland-Wallingford Catholic Community. 

A native Vermonter, he was born in Bennington. A priest of the Diocese of Burlington, he was ordained in 1995 and has since served as a parish priest in Barre, Burlington, and Waterbury, Vt.

In 1998, he began teaching religious studies at Rice Memorial High School and was appointed full-time principal of Rice in 2006. He has written a regular column since 2000 for Vermont’s Catholic newspaper, the Vermont Catholic Tribune, now known as Vermont Catholic.

An amateur genealogist, he has researched his French, Italian, and English roots. He prides himself on having explored every old cemetery in Bennington and Shaftsbury!