Robert Joseph Baker

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Most Rev. Robert Joseph Baker
Senior posting

Denomination	Catholic Church
See	Birmingham in Alabama
Title	Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama
Period in office	August 14, 2007 — present
Predecessor	Most Rev. David E. Foley
Successor	incumbent
Personal
Date of birth	June 4, 1944 (1944-06-04) (age 64)
Place of birth	Willard, Ohio

Styles of Robert Joseph Baker


Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	not applicable

Robert J. Baker (b. June 4, 1944 Willard, Ohio) is an American Roman Catholic prelate who serves as the Bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama. He was appointed to this post by Pope Benedict XVI on August 14, 2007 and installed on October 2, 2007. He has written several books.

He was ordained for the diocese of St Augustine in 1970 and sent to Rome for doctoral studies in dogmatic theology shortly thereafter. He has served in turns as a parish priest, campus minister and seminary formator before being tapped to lead the Diocese of Charleston in 1999. As bishop of Charleston, Baker presided over rapid growth, thanks to a combination of adult converts, (the state's Catholic population boomed by almost 40% to over 175,000 during his tenure). He also dedicated new or expanded churches, schools and parish facilities has been both the imperative and the norm.

With the Diocese of Charleston now vacant, Bishop Baker's appointment to Birmingham keeps the number of U.S. dioceses lacking a bishop at eight;^{[citation needed]} the longest wait now belongs to Saint Thomas, American Virgin Islands, whose has been sede vacante since January 2007.