by Catholic News Service
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Sulpician Fr. Ronald Witherup, a U.S. priest, has been re-elected for a second six-year term as superior general of the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice, as the Sulpicians are formally known.
The Sulpicians are an international society of diocesan priests focused on the education and formation of priests and future priests.
Witherup, 64, was re-elected during the society's general assembly at Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Ordained a priest in 1976 for the diocese of Erie, Pa., he entered the society in 1981. He was elected to his first six-year term as superior general in 2008.
Before that he served for more than a decade as provincial of the society's U.S. province, based in Baltimore, where the Sulpicians operate St. Mary's Seminary and University, among other ministries.
A Scripture scholar and author, Witherup also is a former vice rector, academic dean and professor at St. Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, Calif.
During the general assembly, delegates also elected four general consultors from various countries representing the Sulpician provinces of France, Canada and the United States: first consultor, Fr. David Thayer, United States; second consultor, Fr. Argiro Restrepo, Canada; third consultor, Fr. Joseph Ho Thu, Vietnam; and fourth consultor, Fr. Pierre de Martin de Vivies, France.
The Sulpicians, formed in 1641, have their headquarters in Paris. The society has about 330 members. It serves 57 U.S. archdioceses and dioceses and 19 archdioceses and dioceses in other countries, including 11 in Zambia.
