Pope names new bishop for Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE – Pope Benedict XVI has chosen a South Texas native to serve as the next bishop of Brownsville, a diocese spokeswoman said.
Monsignor Daniel E. Flores, who has served as an auxiliary bishop in Detroit since 2006, will replace retiring Bishop Reymundo J. Pena who submitted his resignation to the Vatican in February.
“He has placed the ministry to Hispanic Catholics here on a solid foundation.” said Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit in a statement. “We are very sad to lose him, but we understand that his being sent to Brownsville is God’s will for him, for the priests and people there, and for us.”
At 48, Flores will become one of the youngest bishops in the United States and the new assignment will be something of a homecoming. Born in Palacios – east of Victoria, he attended the University of Texas and had his first assignment as a parish priest in Corpus Christi.
He moved to Rome for pontifical university studies and has a doctorate in theology.
He will join one of the fastest growing dioceses in the country. The Diocese of Brownsville -- which includes parishes in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties -- has tripled in size over the last three decades and nearly doubled in the last two. It ranks one of youngest Catholic populations with half under the age of 25.
He will appear at presentations today at 9:30 a.m. the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Brownsville and at 3 p.m. at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.
Flores will be formally installed as the new bishop at a ceremony on Feb. 2, 2010.
Pena has served as the diocese top priest since 1995 but was required to submit his resignation on his 75th birthday under canon law.
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