From Right to Left: Bishop Felipe Estevez, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Bishop John Noonan

This morning, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Estevez, 65, as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, succeeding Bishop Victor Galeone whose resignation was submitted in September.

Bishop Estevez was born on February 5, 1946 in Betancourt, Cuba to Adriano and Estrella Estevez. Leaving Cuba at the age of 15, Estevez came to the United States and began studying for the priesthood. On May 30, 1970, Estevez was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Matanzas (Cuba) after receiving a Licentiate in Theology from Montreal University.

Throughout his priesthood, Bishop Estevez has mostly been involved with educating men for the priesthood. His first seminary assignment came shortly after being ordained, when he was sent to Honduras to teach and direct young men studying for the priesthood. In 1975 Estevez came back to the United States, serving on the faculty of Florida’s St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.  During this time, he was attending Miami’s Barry University, receiving a Master in Arts degree in 1977.

Following his work with the seminary in Florida, Estevez was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Miami in February 1979. Shortly after receiving his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, he was appointed Rector/President of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach.

From 1987 until 2001, then-Father Estevez served as pastor to Miami’s St. Agatha Parish and campus minister to Florida International University. In 2001, Estevez returned to St. Vincent de Paul, serving as Dean of Spiritual Formation. On November 21, 2003, Pope John Paul II appointed Fr. Felipe Estevez as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami. Bishop Etevez was ordained to the episcopacy on January 7, 2004 in front of a packed crowd at Miami’s Cathedral of St. Mary.

Bishop Estevez currently serves on the following USCCB committees: Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; and Committee on Migration.

The Diocese of St. Augustine has scheduled a press conference for 10:30 a.m. this morning.

With this appointment, there are no active Auxiliary Bishops for the Archdiocese of Miami. However, that is not expected to be the case very much longer as chatter is beginning to pick up about a possible appointment or two in the coming days.

As ever, stay close. For now, though, here is a video about Bishop Estevez, in his own words:

Source: Archdiocese of Miami