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The Rev. Terry LaValley was expecting the call about a new bishop for the North Country's Catholics; he just didn't know it was him.

It had been a surprise for everyone when Bishop Robert Cunningham was transferred from the Diocese of Ogdensburg to the larger Diocese of Syracuse in April 2009. Then it had been another surprise for LaValley when he was chosen as the diocese's top administrator until the pope chose a new bishop.

That was 10 months ago, and LaValley said he was more than ready when the phone call came on Feb. 9 from Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to the U.S., based in Washington, D.C.

"I had been eagerly anticipating the call from the apostolic nuncio (Sambi) ... to learn who the new bishop would be," LaValley said in a telephone interview Friday. "He began by telling me of his own pastoral ministry in the Holy Land, and he spoke of spending time on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and it was there that Jesus asked Peter to 'follow me.'

"And it was like the next sentence: The holy father (Pope Benedict XVI) had chosen me to be the bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

"There was a long period of silence on my part, and much stuttering, I believe, and then he asked me if I accepted the appointment.

"There was more stuttering, and then I said yes."

LaValley, who was born and raised in tiny Mooers Forks in New York's northeast corner, will be only the third Ogdensburg bishop who was born in the diocese, and the first in 71 years. The diocese's first bishop, Edgar Wadhams (who presided from 1872 to 1891), was born in Lewis, and its third, Joseph Conroy (1921-1939), was born in Watertown.

LaValley will be installed on April 30 as bishop of the diocese that covers the entire North County from Lake Ontario to Lake Champlain. Archbishop Sambi is expected to attend the 2 p.m. service, but not everyone who wants to can. St. Mary's Cathedral, the diocese's primary church, holds fewer than 1,000 people, so attendance will be by invitation only.

"But I certainly do hope to make visits throughout the deaneries, throughout the diocese," LaValley said.

With the exception of Bishop Stanislaus Brzana, who presided from 1968 to 1993, turnover of the top Catholic job in the region has been frequent for six decades. Starting with Bishop Bryan McEntegart (Ogdensburg's fifth) in 1953, every bishop except Brzana, and one who died in office, has been transferred to a bigger diocese after three to six years.

LaValley said he and others felt the last three bishops were not here long enough.

"I came to greatly respect Bishop Cunningham, and we as a diocese were hoping he would be with us longer," LaValley said of his predecessor's departure. "We were really disappointed ... (but) we knew that the Diocese of Syracuse was getting an excellent bishop and shepherd."

The 53-year-old LaValley said he expects his case to be different.

"The indication that I received was that I would be bishop of Ogdensburg for a long time, God willing, the archbishop mentioned to me," he said.

LaValley graduated from Northeastern Clinton High School in Champlain and went to Plattsburgh State University for two-and-a-half years before joining the Navy and finishing his bachelor's degree there.

During his six years in the Navy, he said he never set foot on a ship, except as a tourist once. His job was cryptology - codes.

He said he had thought about joining the priesthood for some time, and conversations with a Navy chaplain helped him make up his mind.

"It was always something in the back of my mind, but I wasn't ready to commit until I got out of the service," LaValley said of priesthood. "I grew up in a very devout Catholic family. We practiced our faith; it was just part and parcel of our family."

After he was discharged, he entered Wadham's Hall Seminary-College in Ogdensburg and progressed to a major seminary near Buffalo for his master of divinity degree. He was ordained by Bishop Brzana on Sept. 24, 1988.

After a time as a priest in Massena, Bishop Brzana asked him to go to canon law school in Ottawa for two years. When he returned in 1994 he was put in a pastoral role in Hammond and Rossie, but in 1996 Bishop Paul Loverde appointed him chancellor and episcopal vicar - a close advisor to the bishop. On top of that job, he led parishes in Heuvelton, then Gouverneur and then, in 2003, St. Mary's Cathedral.

In 2004 he was given a particularly sensitive assignment - making sure the diocese complies with the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, drafted in the wake of the national scandal early this decade in which priests had been moved around and not prosecuted after sexually abusing young people. LaValley has been in charge of making sure the diocese follows "the process of responding to an allegation" and also "trying to make sure that the rights of the alleged victim and the rights of the accused priest are upheld."

The diocese is independently audited on this charter every year, LaValley said, and "we've been found to be in full compliance with the charter directives."

LaValley said he was surprised to be chosen as diocesan administrator after Bishop Cunningham left, especially since it had been six years since he was chancellor and he felt a little out of the loop.

"It is very humbling when you have your peers express that kind of support for you in your priestly ministry," LaValley said.

On April 30 he will become the 14th bishop of Ogdensburg.