by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Miami Auxiliary Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as the bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine to succeed retiring Bishop Victor Galeone.
“My prayers have been answered,” Galeone said Wednesday in introducing Estevez at the Catholic Center in Mandarin to reporters, priests and other members of the diocese.
Galeone submitted his letter of resignation in September upon turning 75, the mandatory age of retirement for bishops. The Vatican accepted the resignation and appointed Estevez.
Estevez, 65, will be installed as bishop June 1. He will be the 10th bishop of St. Augustine, following Galeone, who has served for 10 years and who succeeded Bishop John J. Snyder. Snyder served from 1979-2000.
Born in Cuba, Estevez came to the United States through Operation Peter Pan, which brought 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba and he finished high school in Indiana.
With a theology degree from Montreal University, a Master of Arts degree from Barry University and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he was ordained a priest in 1970 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
He served five years in the Honduras as a priest and faculty member of a seminary and then he became a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami in 1979.
“I pledge my total dedication to the people of God in this Northeastern part of Florida in its rich diversity and profound unity,” said Estevez.
Galeone said he had not made “a definitive decision” on what he will do in retirement. “I will not be too far from the area,” he said.
As of 2010, the diocese encompasses 17 counties in Northeast Florida. It includes 171,000 Catholics among 52 parishes. It includes 148 priests.
The diocese also has 10,559 students among 25 diocesan elementary schools, four high schools and one special education school. Also 9,478 students are enrolled in religious education programs.
It was designated as the Diocese of St. Augustine in 1870.
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