Southern California Catholic : Our Bishops

Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles

BISHOP Bios & Pics (SOME ALTERED) taken from the Websites of the Diocese (Archdiocese) of LA, ORANGE, SAN BERNARDINO, SAN DIEGO, FRESNO, MONTERREY, SAN BERNARDINO and other websites

His Holiness, Pope Francis

Supreme Pontiff, highest bishop of the Roman Catholic Church

And to Whom This Page is Dedicated

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, Metropolitan Archbishop of LA

Jose Gomez was born in Monterrey Mexico on December 26th, 1951. He was ordained a priest in the summer of 1978 for Opus Dei. In 2001 Fr. Gomez was elevated to Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, and in 2005, Archbishop of San Antonio. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of LA. Archbishop Gomez has written two books, Men of Brave Heart, promoting the priesthood, and A Will to Live: Clear Answers on End of Life Issues, a Catholic moral teaching on death. He has written four pastoral letters as an archbishop and is a speaker on true Catholic voting, religious freedom, Pro-Life issues, as well as advocate for promotion of Religious Vocations, and the New Evangelization. He served as the Chair of the USCCB committee on Immigration from 2010-2013. He has a great love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament.

Bishop Oscar A. Solis, Auxiliary Bishop of LA

Bishop Solis was ordained a priest June 16, 1984. On February 10, 2004, Cardinal Mahony ordained him bishop—the first ordained in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the first Filipino-American bishop ordained in the United States. Born in San Jose in the Philippines on October 13, 1953, he entered the high school seminary in the Philippines and spent time studying law after that. He served as the rector of the seminary of the Diocese of Cabanatuan. He served in parishes in Union City, N.J. and in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, La. It was during his tenure as pastor of St. Joseph Co-Cathdral in Thibodaux, La., that he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles. He is currently the bishop for the San Pedro Pastoral Region.

Bishop Edward Clark, Auxiliary Bishop of LA

Bishop Edward Clark was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, attended local schools in Los Angeles and graduated from St. John’s Seminary. He was ordained in 1972 by Cardinal Timothy Manning and much of his priesthood was spent in education, as teacher, principal and coordinator of secondary schools. In 1988 he received his doctorate in Sacred Theology and was named rector of St. John’s Seminary in 1994. Cardinal Mahony ordained him a bishop for Our Lady of the Angels Region in 2001.

Bishop Alexander Salazar , Auxiliary Bishop of LA

Bishop Alexander Salazar was born in San Jose, Costa Rica. He attended St. Thomas the Apostle School, Daniel Murphy High School, East Los Angeles College, California State University Los Angeles, Immaculate Heart College, and St. John's Seminary. Cardinal Timothy Manning ordained him a priest in 1984. He served as associate pastor at St. Gregory the Great, Whittier; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pasadena; and the Cathedral of St. Vibiana. He was appointed administrator, and served as pastor for ten years at St. Teresa of Avila, Silverlake. He was elected Dean of Deanery 14. He has served on the Council of Priests, College of Consultors, Clergy Pension Board, and Archdiocesan Personnel Board. In 2003, he was appointed Vice Chancellor and served on the Archdiocesan Leadership Team. Cardinal Roger Mahony ordained him bishop on November 4, 2004 and appointed him Episcopal Vicar of the San Pedro Region. Cardinal Mahony appointed Bishop Salazar to head the Ethnic Ministries and Office of Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese.

Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, Auxiliary Bishop of LA

A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Bishop Gerald Wilkerson attended St. John’s Seminary and was ordained in 1965 by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre. He served in the archdiocese as associate pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Habra; St. Michael, Los Angeles and American Martyrs, Manhattan Beach, and for 15 years at Our Lady of Grace Church, Encino as administrator and then pastor.In 1996 Bishop Wilkerson was named Episcopal Vicar for the San Fernando Region and then ordained auxiliary bishop the following year.

Bishop Joseph M. Sartoris , Auxiliary Bishop-Emeritus of LA

Joseph M. Sartoris is a native of Los Angeles, California. He studied at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, California, and was ordained a priest of the Los Angeles Archdiocese on May 30, 1953. On February 8, 1994, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the Titular Bishop of Oliva and Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles. He was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Roger Mahony on May 19, 1994 and led the Archdiocese's San Pedro Pastoral Region from 1994 to 2002.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Archbishop-Emeritus of LA

Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony is Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles. On February 27, 2011 Cardinal Mahony reached his mandatory retirement age and was succeeded as Archbishop of Los Angeles by Archbishop José H. Gómez. Born in Hollywood, Cardinal Mahony is the first native Angeleno and the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles. He is the third Archbishop of Los Angeles to be created a cardinal.

Bishop Thomas Curry, Auxiliary Bishop-Emeritus of LA

Diocese of Orange

Bishop Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of Orange in California

On May 17, 2005, Vann was appointed coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth, Texas (part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex), by Pope Benedict XVI.[2] This was to have been his first assignment as a bishop, but the bishop of the diocese, Joseph Patrick Delaney, died on July 12, 2005. Vann received his episcopal consecration the next day, July 13 (immediately becoming the 3rd Bishop of Fort Worth), from Archbishop José Gómez, with Archbishop Raymond Burke and Bishop George Lucas serving as co-consecrators, at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. He selected as his episcopal motto: In Fide Et Dileccione In Christo Iesu, In the faith and love in Christ Jesus. During the 2008 presidential election, Vann and Bishop Kevin Farrell issued a joint statement in which they declared, "We cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion—while not the only issue—it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years...As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America."Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Vann is a member of the committees on marriage, family life, laity and youth, and the subcommittee on marriage and family life. On September 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced the transfer of Vann from Fort Worth to the Diocese of Orange, in Orange, California, to succeed retiring Bishop Tod David Brown, 76. (Canon 401.1 of the Latin Church's Code of Canon Law states that bishops, at age 75, must offer a letter of resignation to the Pope for possible acceptance.) He will be installed at a later date. Bishop Vann was formally installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Orange on December 10, 2012. He speaks Spanish and Vietnamese in addition to English.

From: thie link

Bishop Dominic Luong, Auxilary Bishop of Orange

On April 25, 2003, Luong was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, California, and titular bishop of Cebarades by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 11 from Bishop Tod David Brown, with Archbishop Alfred Clifton Hughes and Bishop Jaime Soto serving as co-consecrators. He selected as his episcopal motto: "You Are Strangers And Aliens No Longer" (Ephesians 2:19).Luong has been an outspoken proponent for the rights of Catholics in Vietnam.

Main Celebrant

Bishop Tod. D Brown, Bishop-Emeritus of Orange

Diocese of San Bernardino

Bishop Gerald Barnes, Bishop of San Bernardino

With over 27,000 square miles and over 1.2 million Catholics, Bishop Barnes is chief shepherd to one of the fastest growing dioceses in the nation. In addition to his leadership of his local church, he currently serves as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' sub-committee on Hispanic Affairs and is a member of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. At the local level, he is a member of the board of the Inland Empire Hispanic Scholarship Fund.His episcopal motto is, “Amar Es Entregarse”, “Love is the Total Giving of Oneself”.

Bishop Rutilio del Rirgo, Auxilary Bishop of San Bernardino

Bishop Rutilio del Riego was ordained as the Diocese of San Bernardino's third Auxilliary Bishop on September 20, 2005 at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Chino Hills. He is a member of the Fraternity of Diocesan Labor Priests. In the Diocese of San Bernardino, he has served as Parochial Vicar and Pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Riverside where he worked with a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural community that includes Hispanic, Vietnamese and Tongan Catholics. He has also served as Vicar Forane for the Riverside Vicariate and as a member of the Presbyteral Council of the diocese.

Diocese of San Diego

Bishop Robert Brom, Bishop-Emeritus of San Diego

Brom was born in Arcadia, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin on September 18, 1938. He was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona in Winona, Minnesota on December 18, 1963. On March 25, 1983, Brom was appointed the Roman Catholic Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth. On May 23, 1983, Brom was ordained a bishop. On May 1, 1989, Brom was appointed as coadjutor bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. On July 10, 1990, he was installed as Bishop of San Diego

Bishop Gilbert Chavez, Auxiliary Bishop-Emeritus of San Diego

Gilbert Chávez was born in Ontario, California. He studied at Immaculate Heart Seminary in San Diego and was ordained a priest of the San Diego diocese on March 19, 1960.[1] Chávez was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego as well as titular bishop of Magarmel on April 9, 1974 by Pope Paul VI. Chávez was ordained a bishop on June 21, 1974. He was only the second Mexican American priest to be elevated to the rank of bishop in US Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI accepted Chávez resignation on June 1, 2007.

(In the Province of LA, but I don't really consider these dioceses is Southern California:)

Diocese of Fresno

Bishop Armando Ochoa, Bishop of Fresno

Ochoa was named titular bishop of Sitifis as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II during late December 1987. He was consecrated on February 23, 1987 by Cardinal Roger Mahony. On April 1, 1966, Ochoa was appointed as the bishop of the Diocese of El Paso and installed on June 26 of the same year. During the eleven-year span between 1999 and 2009, there were only two ordinations to the priesthood in the Diocese of El Paso.On December 1, 2011 the Holy Father appointed Bishop Ochoa as the bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, California, succeeding the late Bishop John Steinbock, who had died of lung cancer in December 2010 (the Fresno Diocese has an area of 91,268; a total population of 2,778,000; a Catholic population of 1,084,000; 166 priests; 46 permanent deacons; and 152 religious). picture from this web:

http://www.elpasodiocese.org/about/bishops?id=481

Diocese of Monterrey

Bishop Richard Garcia, Bishop of Monterrey

Garcia was ordained to the priesthood on June 15, 1973 for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at Sacred Heart Parish in San Jose, California. For seven years he served as an associate pastor and coordinator of Hispanic apostolate, from 1980 to 1984 he studied theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.When the Diocese of San Jose in California was erected in 1981, Garcia was transferred to the new diocese. He taught at Saint Joseph Minor Seminary in Los Altos and at Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California In 1997, while serving as the pastor of Saint Leo the Great Parish in San Jose and as the diocesan director for vocations, Pope John Paul II named Garcia titular bishop of Bapara and auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento.He was ordained to the episcopate on January 28, 1998 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament; Bishop William Weigand served as his principal consecrator. pict and entry from wikipedia

Bishop Sylvester Donovan Ryan, Bishop-Emeritus of Monterrey

(b. September 3, 1930 in Avalon, California) is a retired Roman Catholic bishop. He was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Monterey in California from his installation on March 19, 1992 to January 30, 2007. From 1990 to 1992 he was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Bishop Ryan was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 3, 1957. He was named president-rector of the Archdiocesan Saint John's College Seminary in 1986, and was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Roger Mahony on May 31, 1990, for the titular see of Remesiana. He was appointed to be the third Bishop of Monterey in California by Pope John Paul II in 1992. Ryan served as the president of the California Catholic Conference from 1997–2004. entry from Wikipedia

Abbots of Religious Communities

(Not bishops)

Norbertine Fathers of St. Micheal's Abbey

Abbot Eugene J. Hayes, O.Praem, Silverado, CA

"The way of life we are privileged to live at the abbey is a gift that is greater than the sum total of all of us as a group, because it is a grace from God. The kind of grace of which I speak is not something that is experienced in a rarified ecstatic way but rather a gift that comes to us in the concrete little actions that make up the day of prayer and work.
Rising at 5AM, each of us takes his place behind the church to process into the first hours of prayer at 5:45, and these times of chanted prayer punctuate the day. Yet the days are built up of much more than just the prayers of the Office and Mass which are the noblest times and focus the rest of the hours. Countless reminders of what we are about surround even our meals together, in the form of readings, silence, blessings, the fact we serve each other at meals, and each of these things is a grace and a reason for gratitude
This is my first letter in a newsletter since we lost Abbot Parker in January. When I was elected second abbot of St. Michael’s Abbey on June 27th, 1995 –Abbot Parker became a mentor, a guide and a friend to me in an entirely new way, and I was blessed with that for almost 15 years. Abbot Parker died in a most edifying manner – fortified with the sacraments, prayerfully, surrounded byhis brethren, but we miss his presence and look forward to that Eternal Day when we will all joyfully chant the Lord’s praises forever in heaven." -Abbot Hayes http://www.stmichaelsabbey.com/abbey/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137&Itemid=114

Benedictines of St. Andrew's Abbey

Abbot Damien Toilolo, O.S.B., Valyermo, CA

Abbot Damien is the fourth of eight children born to Ierenimo and Sosefina Toilolo, Samoan immigrants. Born in San Diego, he grew up in Los Angeles and attended schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After graduating from college with a degree in Liberal Studies from CSU Dominguez Hills, he served 3 years as a volunteer at the Franciscan Youth Center in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of a lay mission program sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore. Returning to California, he earned his California teaching credential and taught grades 6-8 in Carson at St. Philomena School with the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of Los Angeles. It was the Sisters who steered Abbot Damien to Valyermo. During his twelve years as a monk of Valyermo, Abbot Damien has served his community in various roles, including postulant master, novice master, vocation director, and subprior. In June 2008 he was appointed Prior Administrator for two years, and on June 21, 2010 his community elected him Abbot for 8 years. Abbot Ansgar Schmidt, O.S.B., President of the Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation presided over and confirmed the election.

Please keep Abbot Damien and the monks of Valyermo in your prayers.
text/pic: from http://www.saintandrewsabbey.com/searchresults.asp?cat=37

Benedictines of Prince of Peace Abbey