The Reverend Monsignor John J. M. Foster, J.C.D.
Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia
Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA
Monsignor John J. M. Foster was born and raised in Escalon, California. He graduated from Georgetown University with a major in government and minor in philosophy. After earning a Master of Arts in Theology and Master of Divinity at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, Father Foster was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Stockton on June 29, 1991.
Father Foster served as parochial vicar at St. Joseph’s in Modesto and St. Luke’s in Stockton before completing the licentiate in canon law at the Catholic University of America in 1996. Upon his return to the Diocese of Stockton, he served as adjunct judicial vicar and director of the diocesan liturgical commission. The Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire appointed Father Foster as the first director of the diocesan Office for Worship in 1999. He assumed the office of judicial vicar in 2000. An Eagle Scout, Father Foster also served as the chaplain to the diocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting, for which service he was awarded the Bronze Pelican and St. George awards.
In 2005, Father Foster returned to the Catholic University of America to earn his doctorate in canon law. His 2007 dissertation is entitled The Nature and Use of the Recognitio of the Apostolic See with a Consideration of Select Normative Decisions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Father Foster then joined the faculty of the School of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, where he taught courses in sacramental and liturgical law. He has made presentations throughout the United States and internationally on a variety of canonical and liturgical topics. His articles have appeared in The Jurist, Studia Canonica, Worship, Questions Liturgique, Ius Canonicum, and the CLSA Proceedings.
Monsignor Foster became the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese for the Military Services on July 1, 2013. He continues to teach on an adjunct basis at the Catholic University of America and to take an active part in the Canon Law Society of America.