Pope Francis has named Msgr. Robert Coerver as bishop of the Diocese of Lubbock, Texas, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Plácido Rodríguez.
Msgr. Coerver serves as a priest in the Diocese of Dallas.
The appointment and resignation were publicized today.
A native of Dallas, Robert Coerver, 62, was born June 6, 1954. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Dallas, and pursued post-graduate studies at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), in Rome. Bishop-elect Coerver also holds a licentiate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Texas A & M University. He was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Dallas in 1980.
In 2004, Pope John Paul II named him a prelate of honor with the title of monsignor.
Bishop Rodríguez, who has headed the Diocese of Lubbock since 1994, is 75. Bishop Rodríguez was born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1940. He was ordained a priest on May 23, 1968, and was appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1983. On April 5, 1994, he was appointed bishop of Lubbock and was installed on June 1, 1994.
