US Bishop Change: Austin, Texas

[davidc2]

This morning the Holy See announced Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to name Bishop José Stephen Vásquez as the new Bishop of Austin, Texas, USA.

The diocese had been vacant since then-Bishop Gregory Michael Aymond was named Archbishop of New Orleans, Louisiana in June 2009.

Bishop Vásquez had been serving as Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston-Houston.

 

[Corki]

Well, I am glad that Austin isn’t vacant anymore. But… Bishop Vasquez was our last auxillary in G-H. Now Cardinal DiNardo will be alone as an active bishop here. We have two retired bishops that help out with Confirmations and such (one arch, one auxillary). But even so, schedules are so tight, our parish is having Confirmation this year on a Wednesday afternoon. Cardinal DiNardo is already pulled away quite a bit with his extra duties as Cardinal and he will be assuming Charimanship of the USCCB Committee on Pro Life Activities later this year. I think we are going to have a rough time until we get replacement auxillaries.

Austin’s gain is our loss. Bishop Vasquez was also our Spanish-speaking bishop and the loss will be deeply felt in the ever-growing Hispanic sector of our diocese.

 

[Vanilla]

Hope DiNardo gets some help – I’m in Austin, and from my faithful friends in Houston, DiNardo is really trying hard. I’m keeping my fingers crossed about our new Austin Bishop – hope he’s in the mold of DiNardo, because Austin is a very sticky assignment! Whoever comes in here has to deal with the Texas Legislature and the large university, and it’s hard to keep your Christian perspective.

 

[Corki]

Hope DiNardo gets some help – I’m in Austin, and from my faithful friends in Houston, DiNardo is really trying hard. I’m keeping my fingers crossed about our new Austin Bishop – hope he’s in the mold of DiNardo, because Austin is a very sticky assignment! Whoever comes in here has to deal with the Texas Legislature and the large university, and it’s hard to keep your Christian perspective.

I wouldn’t say that Bishop Vasquez is in the “mold” of DiNardo but he was alone is being visibly supportive of the work the Cardinal was doing in this diocese. He is going to have a big learning curve in Austin because, while both Cardinal DiNardo and his predecessor were quite involved with social policy and “politics,” the auxillaries here have not been so active. Bishop Vasquez has had more responsibility with immigration issues lately but he came here under (then) Bishop Fiorenza who carried the social justice/immigration banner himself.

Cardinal DiNardo is trying hard but there is so much to be done (and undone) here.

 

[Adeodatus]

Is Bishop Vasquez a conservative? God grant that it be so, and that the bishop be friendly to the TLM community.

 

[stanmaxkolbe]

Praise the Lord we have a new Bishop:

Pope Benedict XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as Bishop of the Diocese of Austin. Bishop Vásquez will be the fifth bishop of Austin and the first Mexican-American to lead the diocese.

http://www.austindiocese.org/department_home.php?id=1

 

[Corki]

Is Bishop Vasquez a conservative? God grant that it be so, and that the bishop be friendly to the TLM community.

Bishop Vasquez has been under the shadow of, first Archbishop Fiorenza, who was a long time force in the Galveston-Houston diocese and then Cardinal DiNardo, who is also very high-profile. Bishop Vazquez was educated locally and went to seminary in the Fiorenza time period. That’s a miracle in itself since there were very few ordinations in those years. So, I am not sure much is known about his traditional/modern leanings.

I have been to several of his Masses and heard his homilies. He strikes me as pretty middle-of-the-road.

As for the TLM community, G-H is not a diocese that is EF-friendly. Archbishop Fiorenza was antagonistic toward the TLM and Cardinal DiNardo is indifferent. So, if Bishop Vasquez is sympathetic to those who want the Motu Propio to be acutally implemented, he didn’t get it from here.

 

[Brendan]

But… Bishop Vasquez was our last auxillary in G-H. Now Cardinal DiNardo will be alone as an active bishop here. We have two retired bishops that help out with Confirmations and such (one arch, one auxillary).

We are pretty much in the same position here in Detroit after Bishop Flores was assigned to Brownsville, TX.

We do have another auxilliary bishop, +Reiss, but he is fighting cancer and cannot get out much. We do have a retired auxillary bishop (+Gumbleton), but that’s it’s own story.