Pope Benedict appointed Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez, a former
auxiliary bishop of Miami, to lead the northwestern Florida diocese of
St. Augustine.
“I congratulate Bishop Estevez on his appointment,” Miami Archbishop
Thomas Wenski said on April 27.
“He brings many gifts to Northeast
Florida – as a priest, he has served as a pastor, spiritual director,
seminary rector, and as a very effective preacher of retreats and
missions.”
Bishop Estevez, 65, will replace current St. Augustine Bishop Victor
Benito Galeone, who offered his resignation upon reaching the retirement
age of 75.
“While the People of God here in South Florida rejoice over Northeast
Florida’s good fortune in having Bishop Estevez as their new shepherd,”
Archbishop Wenski added, “we will certainly miss him.”
“Bishop Estevez has not only been a brother priest and bishop to me,
he has, for more than 35 years, been and still is my good friend.”
Bishop Estevez was born in Cuba in 1946 and came to the U.S. as part
of Operation Pedro Pan, which rescued some 14,000 Cuban children from
the Communist regime of the time.
He attended school in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was ordained to the
priesthood in 1970 for the Diocese of Matanzas in Cuba.
After working in
Honduras, he came to Florida in 1975 and was received into the
Archdiocese of Miami in 1979.
He served on the faculty of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in
Boynton Beach and as president rector of the seminary from 1980 to 1986.
Bishop Estevez was also was in charge of campus ministry at Florida
International University in Miami from 1987 to 2001, while serving as
pastor of St. Agatha Church.
He was ordained a bishop in 2004 for the Archdiocese of Miami.