Pope Names Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores To Succeed Bishop Raymundo Peña In Brownsville, Texas

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Daniel Flores, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, 48, as bishop of Brownsville, Texas, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Raymundo Peña, 75, from the pastoral governance of that diocese.
           
The appointment and resignation were publicized in Washington, December 9, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
           
Daniel Ernest Flores was born in Palacios, Texas, August 28, 1961. He studied for the seminary at Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and a Master of Divinity degree with a specialty in theology. He was ordained for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1988.
           
Assignments after ordination included vice chancellor of the diocese, 1988-1992, episcopal vicar for priestly formation, 1992-1997, chancellor of the diocese, 2000-2001, vice-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston 2002-2006, and adjunct professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology in Houston (2001-2006).
           
Bishop Flores was named an auxiliary bishop of Detroit in 2006.

In addition to degrees earned before ordination, Bishop Flores also holds licentiate and doctoral degrees in theology from the University of St. Thomas in Urbe (Angelicum) in Rome.

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Flores has served on the Task Force for Faith Formation and Sacramental Practice.

Bishop Peña was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 1957, and named an auxiliary bishop of San Antonio in 1976; bishop of El Paso, Texas, in 1980; and bishop of Brownsville in 1995. As a member of the USCCB, he has served as chair of the Committee on Hispanic Affairs, chair of the Committee on the Church in Latin America and a member of the pre-synod council and a synod father for the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America.

The Diocese of Brownsville has 4,226 square miles. It has a population of 1,170,776 people, with 995,160, or 85 per cent, of them Catholic.