By Dale Lezon
Houston Chronicle
January 26, 2010
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6835530.html
TEXAS -- Pope Benedict XVI this morning at the Vatican appointed Auxiliary Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to be the Bishop of Austin.
Vasquez will be installed March 8 in Austin, according to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
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| Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Photo by Joe S. Vasquez |
Vasquez, 52, succeeds Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who left the Diocese of Austin in June 2009 to be installed as the Archbishop of New Orleans. He will be the fifth Bishop of the Austin diocese and will shepherd 450,000 Catholics of Central Texas.
"The people of this Archdiocese have been my brothers and sisters in faith these last eight years, and I am humbled by and grateful for the privilege to have served you," Bishop Vasquez stated in a news release announcing his appointment.
Vasquez has been auxiliary bishop of Galveston-Houston for the last eight years.
Since 2006, Vasquez has been the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston's vicar general/chancellor, overseeing the administrative operations of the largest diocese in Texas and the 11th largest in the United States.
He also has served as episcopal vicar for Hispanics and been the archdiocesan liaison for youth during his years in Galveston-Houston.
Vasquez was ordained a priest for the Diocese of San Angelo in 1984. In 2002 he became the nation's youngest active bishop when he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for Galveston-Houston at age 44.
He earned a theology degree from the University of St. Thomas in 1980 and studied at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston while working toward his undergraduate degree. In 1985, he earned a licentiate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome.
Joe Steve Vasquez was born in 1957 in Stamford, Texas, just north of Abilene. The oldest child of Elvira and Juan Vasquez' four sons and two daughters, he was educated in public schools in Stamford and Abilene.
Monsignor Michael Mulvey, who was named bishop-elect of Corpus Christi on Jan. 18, has been serving as temporary administrator of the Austin diocese until its new bishop could be installed.
Contact: dale.lezon@chron.com
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