Galveston-Houston Now an Archdiocese; New Prelate for San Antonio

Bishops Appointed for Saginaw and La Crosse

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WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 1, 2005 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II has established the new ecclesiastical province of Galveston-Houston, in Texas, and has elevated the Diocese of Galveston-Houston to a metropolitan see.

Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, who has led the diocese for the past 20 years, will become the first archbishop of Galveston-Houston. Bishop Daniel DiNardo, appointed coadjutor of Galveston-Houston last January, will now become coadjutor archbishop.

The Pope also:

— Accepted the resignation of Archbishop Patrick Flores, 75, of San Antonio, and appointed Auxiliary Bishop José Gómez, 53, of Denver, Colorado, as his successor.

— Named Bishop Robert Carlson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as bishop of Saginaw, Michigan. Bishop Carlson, 60, succeeds Bishop Kenneth Untener, who died March 27 at age 66.

— Appointed Auxiliary Bishop Jerome Listecki of Chicago as bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The 55-year-old prelate succeeds Raymond Burke, who was appointed archbishop of St. Louis on Dec. 2, 2003.

The new ecclesiastical province of Galveston-Houston comprises the following suffragan dioceses: Beaumont, Tyler, Austin, Victoria, Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

The ecclesiastical province of San Antonio now comprises the following suffragan Dioceses: Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Lubbock, San Angelo, El Paso and Laredo.

A province is a group of neighboring dioceses grouped together under a metropolitan (archbishop) to foster relations among the bishops and those dioceses.

Joseph Fiorenza was born in Beaumont, Texas, on Jan. 25, 1931. He was appointed bishop of San Angelo in September 1979 and bishop of Galveston-Houston in December 1984. He was president of the U.S. bishops’ conference from 1998 to 2001.

Daniel DiNardo was born in Steubenville, Ohio, on May 23, 1949. He was ordained a priest of the Pittsburgh Diocese in July 1977. He was an official at the Vatican Congregation for Bishops from 1980 to 1990. He also served as director of Villa Stritch, a residence for U.S. priests working at the Vatican and was a professor at the North American College.

He was named coadjutor bishop of Sioux City in 1997 and became bishop of Sioux City in 1998. He was appointed coadjutor bishop of Galveston-Houston last Jan. 16.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has a Catholic population of about 1 million in a total population of 4.7 million.

The new archbishop of San Antonio, José Gómez, was born Dec. 26, 1951, in Monterrey, Mexico. He was ordained a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei in August 1978. He was named auxiliary bishop of Denver in January 2001.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio has a Catholic population of about 667,000 in a total population of 1.9 million.

Robert Carlson, newly appointed bishop of Saginaw, was born June 30, 1944, in Minneapolis. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in May 1970. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis in November 1983, coadjutor of Sioux Falls in January 1994, and bishop of Sioux Falls in March 1995.

The Saginaw Diocese has a Catholic population of about 132,000 in a total population of 724,000.

The new bishop of La Crosse, Jerome Listecki, was born in Chicago on March 12, 1949. He studied, among other places, at the University of St. Thomas in Rome, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in May 1975. He was named auxiliary of Chicago in November 2000.

The Diocese of La Crosse has a Catholic population of about 215,000 in a total population of 848,000.

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