Felipe de Jesús Estévez
Encyclopedia
Felipe de Jesús Estévez is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine
in Florida beginning Tuesday, June 1, 2011. He was formerly the Auxiliary Bishop
of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
.
, Cuba
. He fled to the United States
as a young man under Operation Peter Pan
. He is the second of three children (two boys and a girl) of Adriano and Estrella Estevez. He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1970. He was sent to Honduras
first as a priest then as a faculty member to two seminaries (1970–1975). He later joined the faculty at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida
(1975–77) and from 1980–1986, he was the President/Rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary. He then became the campus minister at Florida International University
, Miami, Florida (1987–2001) and then the pastor of St. Agatha Church located next to the Florida International University (1987–2001). He then returned to St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary as the Dean of Spiritual Formation (2001–03).
He studied at Montreal University in Montreal
, Canada
, and received a Licentiate in Theology
in 1970. In 1977, he received a Master in Arts from Barry University
, Miami Shores, Florida (1977) and in 1980, a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University
in Rome
, Italy
. He is fluent in Spanish
, English
, French
and Italian
.
of Kearney on November 21, 2003. On January 7, 2004, he was ordained a bishop at the Cathedral of St. Mary by Archbishop John Clement Favalora of the Archdiocese of Miami and his co-consecrators were Archbishop Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu
of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba and Bishop Thomas James Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix.
Pope Benedict XVI
appointed Estévez to succeed the retiring Bishop Victor Benito Galeone, in 2011. The appointment was announced in Washington, D.C.
on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi
, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States church, and was published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was installed as Bishop of St. Augustine at a cathedral in Mandarin (Jacksonville) Florida. The installation saw the attendance of over 2,000 Catholics including lay people, deacons, priests, and Bishops from around the country and was broadcast on the Catholic news network, EWTN.
Bishop Estèvez hopes to connect especially with the Hispanics in his Diocese, which make up about 7 percent of the population there.
Estevez indicated that his main priority will be evangelization, which includes reaching out to youth and "estranged" Catholics, in part by encouraging clergy to infuse services with more joy and energy; by making parishes welcoming to those returning to the faith; and educating Catholics about how to better embrace and express their faith. Evangelization for Estevez will also mean continuing to champion the church's social justice issues in Tallahassee. The bishop has routinely met with legislators, written policy papers and delivered speeches opposing the death penalty and abortion; he has also advocated for the rights of the disabled and immigrants.
Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine
The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine is a diocese of the Catholic Church's Latin Church in the U.S. state of Florida. Part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, it covers much of North Florida, including the cities of St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Gainesville. The bishop's seat is the...
in Florida beginning Tuesday, June 1, 2011. He was formerly the Auxiliary Bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami
The Archdiocese of Miami is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America. Its ecclesiastic territory includes Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of Florida. The archdiocese is the metropolitan see for the Ecclesiastical Province of Miami,...
.
Early life
Estévez was born in Pedro Betancourt, MatanzasMatanzas
Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. He fled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a young man under Operation Peter Pan
Operation Peter Pan
Operation Peter Pan , was an operation coordinated by the United States government , the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, and certain Cubans. Between 1960 and 1962, over 14,000 children were sent from Cuba to Miami by their parents...
. He is the second of three children (two boys and a girl) of Adriano and Estrella Estevez. He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1970. He was sent to Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
first as a priest then as a faculty member to two seminaries (1970–1975). He later joined the faculty at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(1975–77) and from 1980–1986, he was the President/Rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary. He then became the campus minister at Florida International University
Florida International University
Florida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...
, Miami, Florida (1987–2001) and then the pastor of St. Agatha Church located next to the Florida International University (1987–2001). He then returned to St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary as the Dean of Spiritual Formation (2001–03).
He studied at Montreal University in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and received a Licentiate in Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in 1970. In 1977, he received a Master in Arts from Barry University
Barry University
Barry University is a private, Catholic university, which was founded in 1940 in Miami Shores, Florida, a suburb north of Downtown Miami. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami....
, Miami Shores, Florida (1977) and in 1980, a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University
Pontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy.Heir of the Roman College founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola over 460 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first university founded by the Jesuits...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He is fluent in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Bishop
He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami and Titular BishopTitular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Kearney on November 21, 2003. On January 7, 2004, he was ordained a bishop at the Cathedral of St. Mary by Archbishop John Clement Favalora of the Archdiocese of Miami and his co-consecrators were Archbishop Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu
Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu
Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu was the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba....
of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba and Bishop Thomas James Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix.
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
appointed Estévez to succeed the retiring Bishop Victor Benito Galeone, in 2011. The appointment was announced in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi
Pietro Sambi
Pietro Sambi was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State. At the time of his death, he was the Titular Archbishop of Bellicastrum and the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States....
, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States church, and was published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was installed as Bishop of St. Augustine at a cathedral in Mandarin (Jacksonville) Florida. The installation saw the attendance of over 2,000 Catholics including lay people, deacons, priests, and Bishops from around the country and was broadcast on the Catholic news network, EWTN.
Bishop Estèvez hopes to connect especially with the Hispanics in his Diocese, which make up about 7 percent of the population there.
Estevez indicated that his main priority will be evangelization, which includes reaching out to youth and "estranged" Catholics, in part by encouraging clergy to infuse services with more joy and energy; by making parishes welcoming to those returning to the faith; and educating Catholics about how to better embrace and express their faith. Evangelization for Estevez will also mean continuing to champion the church's social justice issues in Tallahassee. The bishop has routinely met with legislators, written policy papers and delivered speeches opposing the death penalty and abortion; he has also advocated for the rights of the disabled and immigrants.
External references
- Episcopologio de la Iglesia Católica en Cuba bio
- Bishop Ordained, Gets Ovation; The Miami Herald - January 8, 2004
- The Newest Bishop; The Miami Herald - January 8, 2004
- Roman Catholics Debate Whether Communion Should Be Withheld From Politician -Parishioners - Or Even All Catholics - Whose Views On Abortion Contradict Church Teachings; Miami Herald, The (FL) - May 30, 2004
- Monseñor Estevez Assume Como Obispo Auxiliar; El Nuevo Herald - January 7, 2004