Jeffrey Marc Monforton

Jeffrey Marc Monforton (born May 5, 1963) is an American Catholic prelate who has served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit since 2023. He previously served as Bishop of Steubenville from 2012 to 2023.

Biography

Early life Jeffrey Monforton was born on May 5, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan. He is the son of Marc Louis and Virginia Rose (Ackerman) Monforton, and is the eldest of three sons. Monforton received his early education at Tinkham Elementary School and John Marshall Junior High School in Westland, Michigan. He graduated from Wayne Memorial High School in Wayne, Michigan. Monforton then attended Wayne State University in Detroit.

Priesthood On June 25, 1994, Monforton was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit by Cardinal Adam Maida in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.

After his 1994 ordination, the archdiocese assigned Monforton as the associate pastor at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Parish in Royal Oak, Michigan. He also taught religion at the parish high school for two years. In 1998, Maida appointed Monforton as his as a priest secretary in 1998. He was also named as a faculty member of Sacred Heart Seminary in 2002.

Monforton joined the board of trustees of Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, in 2006 and served as an apostolic visitator of the Congregation for Catholic Education during the 2005 to 2006 academic year. In 2012, Monforton became a board member for the North American College and a member of its Development Committee.

In 2017, the diocese embarked on a year of re-consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, patroness of the diocese. The diocese formed an 18-person ad hoc task force to ascertain the present pastoral needs of the diocese. The task force shared its survey with the priests and parishioners.

In May 2018, the diocese discovered that its financial department had been misallocating funds from employee paychecks since 2004. Monforton started a forensic audit of the diocesan finances dating back to 2004. As a result, the diocese was forced to pay $3.5 million in employee taxes. The financial crisis forced Monforton to suspend work on Holy Name Cathedral.

In 2019, Monforton became a member of the USCCB's Committee on National Collections. Following a request from Catholic Relief Services, Monforton visited Iraq in 2019 to assess their needs.

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Monforton released this statement:“The horrible and inexcusable death of Mr. George Floyd is indisputable proof that the cancer of racism continues to permeate our society. Any discrimination against our brothers and sisters, especially racial prejudice, is an active virus that poisons the life blood of any community and society. Together as we experience outrage resultant of Mr. Floyd’s death, we must confront the tragedy of racial injustice." Monforton was elected in 2020 as a member of the Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and Evangelization and Catechesis committees for the USCCB. On April 14, 2021, the judged dismissed the diocese from the lawsuit, leaving Monforton as the defendant. He and the plaintiff reached a settlement in July 2022.

Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit

In September 2023, Pope Francis appointed Monforton as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit and titular bishop of Centuria. He began his role as auxiliary bishop on November 7, 2023.