New bishop brings younger perspective to diocese leadership

BROWNSVILLE — “When can I tell my mother?”

Those were the first words that came to Bishop Daniel E. Flores when he learned that Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to serve as the sixth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville.

“She was delighted, very, very happy,” Flores said Wednesday morning during his formal announcement at Immaculate Conception Cathedral, 1218 E. Jefferson St.

Flores, who has served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit since 2006, was joined by the Brownsville Diocese’s retiring bishop, Raymundo J. Peña.

The diocese covers Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr counties and comprises nearly 800,000 Catholics.

The 48-year-old Flores will be one of the youngest bishops in the Catholic Church and will lead a young diocese — half of the Rio Grande Valley’s residents are under the age of 25.

Flores was born in Palacios with strong family ties to Zapata and was raised in Corpus Christi. At ease in English and Spanish, he said it’s wonderful to be back in South Texas and be so close to family.

He never would have imagined that his life would come full circle, he said.

Flores always leaves things in God’s hands but said he was surprised at his appointment.

Telling his mother, Lydia Dilley Flores, came first.

Flores described the next steps he would take following his installation on Feb. 2 as a “time of discussion” with clergy and others in the diocese, “as well as with the lay faithful over the greatest challenges confronting us in the diocese and how best to meet them.”

He said he’s still finding out some of the challenges the diocese faces, noting the Catholic Church as a whole continues to face allegations about pedophile priests and cover-ups by superiors, which first began to surface publicly in the early 1990s.

Flores said this diocese, like others throughout the country, has been “extremely serious about establishing conditions of safety in all of our ecclesial institutions.”

Following what he termed the wise counsel and example of the pope, the church is proceeding “with the truth, but also with a willingness to kind of admit past mistakes, but also to assure people that we move forward with a spirit of always mutual forgiveness, which is a part of Christian life, Flores said.

He referred to the “sense of deep sorrow that the church has communicated about things that happened in the past,” and said conditions have been set so that it “never happens again.”

The development of youth, their lack of hope, or “falta de esperanza,” and the need for just and fair immigration reform concern Flores.

Maria Martinez was among community members who welcomed him with open arms Wednesday.

“I think he is very young and I think he’s going to be doing really good in this community, especially with young people and families,” she said.

Alicia Putegnat, who also was among community members present, said, “I think he’s going to make a wonderful bishop. He seems to talk from his heart.”

Putegnat added bishops “are only as good as the people who surround them.”

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Emma Perez-Treviño is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.