Bishop Robert J. Baker (1999-2007)
Bishop Robert J. Baker was born in 1944, in Willard, Ohio. In 1966 he graduated with a degree in philosophy from Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, and received a Master of Divinity from the same institution in 1970. On March 21 of that same year, Baker was ordained to priesthood in St. Wendelin Parish in Fostoria, Ohio, and was appointed assistant pastor of St. Paul Parish in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He served there until 1972, before studying graduate level theology at Gregorian University in Rome until 1975. He was appointed administrator of St. Augustine Church and Student Center at University of Florida from 1976 to 1981. In 1977, Baker completed his dissertation and was awarded a doctorate of theology, and in 1981 he was appointed Sacramental Theology instructor at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. Baker was appointed pastor of the Basilica of St. Augustine in 1984, and in 1997 was moved to Christ the King Parish in Jacksonville.
Baker was installed as the twelfth bishop of Charleston in 1999. After eight years of service in South Carolina, Baker was appointed to the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, in October 2007.