Bishop Oscar Cantú, up until now Coadjutor Bishop of San Jose, will assume the pastoral governance of the Diocese upon Pope Francis accepting the resignation of Bishop Patrick J. McGrath of the same See.
The appointment and resignation were announced in Washington, May 1, 2019, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Oscar Cantú was named by Pope Francis as Coadjutor Bishop of San Jose, on July 11, 2018. He was transferred to the Diocese of San Jose after serving as Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Most Reverend Cantú was born in Houston on December 5, 1966. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dallas, and received his Masters in Divinity and Masters in Theological Studies from the University of St. Thomas, also in Houston. He also attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) as well as his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.). Bishop Cantú was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Houston in 1994.
Bishop Cantú was appointed and then ordained Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio and Titular Bishop of Dardano in 2008. In 2013, he was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces, NM. He was installed as bishop on February 28, 2013.
Bishop Cantú is the former Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace. He is currently a member of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America as well as the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs. He was also one of two delegates chosen by the Bishops’ Conference to represent the USCCB at Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico in 2016.
Bishop Patrick McGrath was born on June 11, 1945, in Dublin, Ireland. He attended St. John’s Seminary in Waterford, Ireland where he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1970. His Excellency McGrath served as the parochial vicar of St. Anne of the Sunset Parish in San Francisco, and in the archdiocesan tribunal. He continued his education in Rome where he earned a doctorate in Canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in 1977. Bishop McGrath returned to San Francisco and was appointed the Vice-Officialis, then Officialis, of the archdiocesan tribunal and pastor of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.
Ordained Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco on January 25, 1989, he then served the Archdiocese as Vicar for Clergy, Moderator of the Curia and Vicar for Parishes. On June 30, 1998, he was named by Pope John Paul II to be Coadjutor of the Diocese of San Jose and became bishop of the Diocese upon the retirement of Bishop Pierre DuMaine on November 27, 1999.
The Diocese of San Jose is comprised of 1,300 square miles in the state of California and has a total population of 1,938,153 of which 635,000 or 32 percent, are Catholic.
