Bishop John Myers

Current Posts: Bishop of Peoria, Ill.; board of governors, Pope John Center for the Study of Ethics in Healthcare, Boston, Mass.; NCCB's Canonical Affairs Committee; various other bishops’ committees.

Background: Born in Ottawa, Ill., 1941, the oldest of seven children; educated in Rome at North American College and Gregorian University; ordained in 1966; earned doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, 1977; consecrated bishop Sept. 3, 1987; coadjutor bishop of Peoria until acceding to that diocese's See, Jan. 23, 1990.

Episcopal motto: “Let the mystery of the Church shine forth.”

Edward Reginald Frampton, “The Voyage of St. Brendan,” 1908, Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin.

Which Way Is Heaven?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s mystic west was inspired by the legendary voyage of St. Brendan, who sailed on a quest for a Paradise in the midst and mists of the ocean.