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Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville

Coordinates: 25°55′49″N 97°29′04″W / 25.93028°N 97.48444°W / 25.93028; -97.48444
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Diocese of Brownsville

Dioecesis Brownsvillensis

Diócesis de Brownsville
Immaculate Conception Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location
Country United States
TerritoryCounties of Starr, Willacy, Hidalgo, and Cameron counties in Southern Texas
Ecclesiastical provinceGalveston-Houston
Coordinates25°55′49″N 97°29′04″W / 25.93028°N 97.48444°W / 25.93028; -97.48444
Statistics
Area4,226 sq mi (10,950 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2020)
1,377,861
1,171,182 (85.0%)
Parishes72
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedJuly 10, 1965
CathedralImmaculate Conception Cathedral
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopDaniel E. Flores
Metropolitan ArchbishopDaniel DiNardo
Auxiliary BishopsMario Alberto Avilés
Map
Website
cdob.org

The Diocese of Brownsville (Latin: Dioecesis Brownsvillensis, Spanish: Diócesis de Brownsville) is a Latin Church diocese in southeastern Texas in the United States.

The Diocese of Brownsville is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The diocese's first cathedral church is Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Brownsville, Texas.

History

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1690 to 1965

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The first Catholic mission in Texas, then part of the Spanish Empire, was San Francisco de los Tejas. It was founded by Franciscan Father Damián Massanet in 1690 in the Weches area. The priests left the mission after three years, then established a second mission, Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas, near present-day Alto in 1716.[1]

In 1839, after the 1836 founding of the Texas Republic, Pope Gregory XVI erected the prefecture apostolic of Texas, covering its present-day area. In 1847, the vicariate became the Diocese of Galveston. A French merchant in 1865 constructed the La Lomita Chapel in Mission, Texas, which in 1871 he bequeathed to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.[2]

In 1874, Pope Pius IX established the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville out of the Diocese of Galveston. The new vicariate included all the settlements south of the Nueces River to the Río Grande River. In 1912, Pope Pius X erected the Diocese of Corpus Christi, which included the Brownsville area.

1965 to 1980

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Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Brownsville in 1965, taking its territory from the Diocese of Corpus Christi. That same year, The pope appointed Reverend Adolph Marx of the Diocese of Corpus Christi as the first bishop of Brownsville. Marx died a few months later that year; Paul VI then named Reverend Humberto Medeiros of the Diocese of Fall River as his replacement.

Medeiros' appointment came at the time of a threatened farm workers' strike.[3] Many of his parishioners were Mexican-American migrant workers. Medeiros was an advocate on behalf of workers, supporting their demands for a minimum wage at $1.25 an hour.[3]

During his tenure, Medeiros sold the episcopal limousine, converted all but one room of the episcopal residence into a dormitory for visiting priests, and traveled with migrant workers to celebrate mass in the fields during the harvest season.[3] He spent Christmas and Easter visiting prisoners in Texas jails.[4] In 1970, Paul VI named Medeiros as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston. The pope named Auxiliary Bishop John Fitzpatrick from the Archdiocese of Miami to replace Medeiros in Brownsville.

1980 to 1995

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In 1982, Fitzpatrick opened Casa Oscar Romero in Brownsville, named after the murdered Salvadorian archbishop, Oscar Romero. It served as a shelter for refugees coming across the Mexican border into the United States. He eventually closed the shelter after repeated complaints from federal judges that he was violating US immigration law.[5] Fitzpatrick set up a different shelter and even opened his own garage to refugees.[5] As bishop, he set up an extensive program to train lay people to assume roles within the diocese.[5] He also established diocese radio and TV stations.[6]

Auxiliary Bishop Enrique San Pedro of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston was appointed in 1991 by Pope John Paul II as the coadjutor bishop of Brownsville to assist Fitzpatrick. After Fitzpatrick retired later that year, San Pedro automatically became bishop of Brownsville. He died in 1994 after less than three years in office.

1995 to present

[edit]

In 1995, John Paul II appointed Bishop Raymundo Peña of the Diocese of El Paso as the next bishop of Brownsville. In 2003, the diocese and the United Farm Workers of America settled a lawsuit over five workers who were fired from Holy Spirit Church in McAllen and Sacred Heart Church in Hidalgo.[7] Peña retired in 2009.

Auxiliary Bishop Daniel E. Flores from the Archdiocese of Detroit was named bishop of Brownsville by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

In November 2018, the diocese sued the Trump Administration, saying that the routing of its border wall with Mexico would cut off access to La Lomita Chapel. The diocese claimed that the federal government was violating its First Amendment rights under the US Constitution. In February 2019, Congress amended an existing appropriations bill to prohibit new funding for any border barriers at La Lomita.[8][9]

As of 2023, Flores is the current bishop of Brownsville.

Sex abuse

[edit]

In 2004, the Dallas Morning News published a report on sexual abuse accusations against Reverend Basil Onyia, a Nigerian priest. Onyia arrived in Brownsville in 1999 and was assigned as assistant pastor of the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle. By early 2000, the diocese was receiving complaints from staff and parishioners about inappropriate behavior by Onyia towards women and girls.[10]

In April 2000, after a woman filed a police complaint, Peña transferred Onyia to a parish in Harlingen. Later in 2000, two priests complained from Harlingen complained to Peña about Onyia. In January 2001, Peña asked Onyia's bishop in Nigeria to recall him. In February 2001, the relatives of a developmentally disabled girl accused Onyia of rape. Peña ordered Onyia to a third parish, but, fearing arrest, Onyia fled to Nigeria.[10] The Vatican laicized him in 2016.[11]

Deacon Ronaldo Chavez, a school principal, was arrested in January 2014 on charges of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy multiple times in 2013.[12] Chavez later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison.[11] The victim sued the diocese in June 2014, claiming that the diocese failed to supervise Chavez.[13]

The diocese was sued by two siblings in March 2019 who claimed they were sexually abused as young children by Reverend Benedicto Ortiz from 1982 to 1985. Ortiz had persuaded their mother to let the children live with him during the work week; he slept with the children, whom he forced to perform oral sex. Bishop Fitzgerald knew that the children were living with Ortiz; he finally ordered Ortiz to send the children home, but Ortiz was still able to take them to South Padre Island for outings.[14] In 2021, the court severed the lawsuit into individual lawsuits for each victim and the diocese settled one of the lawsuits.[13]

Statistics

[edit]

As of 2020, the Diocese of Brownsville served 1,171,182 Catholics (85.0% of 1,377,861 total) on 111,125 km2 in 72 parishes, 44 missions, 108 priests (85 diocesan, 23 religious), 103 deacons, 72 lay religious (12 brothers, 60 nuns), and 12 seminarians.

The diocese has the second highest percentage of Catholics to total diocese population in the United States, second only to the Diocese of Laredo. As of 2020, the Diocese of Brownsville comprised 1,171,182 Catholics out of a total population of 1,377,861, or 85.0%.[15]

Bishops

[edit]

Bishops of Brownsville

[edit]
  1. Adolph Marx (1965)[16]
  2. Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1966-1970), appointed Archbishop of Boston (cardinal in 1973)
  3. John Joseph Fitzpatrick (1971-1991)
  4. Enrique San Pedro (1991-1994; coadjutor archbishop 1991)
  5. Raymundo Joseph Peña (1994-2009)
  6. Daniel E. Flores (2010–present)

Auxiliary bishop

[edit]

Mario Alberto Avilés (2018–present)

Other diocesan priest who became bishop

[edit]

Joseph Patrick Delaney, appointed Bishop of Fort Worth in 1981

Education

[edit]

Universities

[edit]

Catholic Campus Ministry, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

High schools

[edit]

Middle and elementary schools

[edit]
  • Guadalupe Regional Middle School – Brownsville
  • Immaculate Conception School – Rio Grande City
  • Incarnate Word School – Brownsville
  • Oratory Academy – Pharr
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe School – Mission
  • Our Lady of Sorrows School – McAllen
  • St. Anthony's School – Harlingen
  • St. Joseph's School – Edinburg
  • St. Martin de Porras School – Weslaco
  • St. Mary's School – Brownsville

Closed schools

[edit]

St. Luke's School – Brownsville, closed 2020

Public broadcasting

[edit]

The diocese's radio and television stations are operated under the license name of RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc.[17]

  • KJJF 88.9 FM and KHID 88.1 FM - NPR-member stations

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Texas Almanac-Diocese of Tyler
  2. ^ "La Lomita Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Change of the Guard". Time. 1970-11-21. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010.
  4. ^ "Cardinal Medeiros of Boston Dies After Coronary Bypass Operation", The New York Times, September 18, 1983.
  5. ^ a b c Staff, T. B. B. (2018-11-15). "ANECDOTE: "I feed them, and I clothe them and give them temporary help... I think that's American." – Bishop John J. Fitzpatrick". Texas Border Business. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  6. ^ "Longtime Brownsville bishop dies at 87". Plainview Herald. 2006-07-16. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  7. ^ admin (2003-08-15). "UFW and Brownsville diocese settle dispute over fired south Texas parish workers". UFW. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  8. ^ "Butterfly Center, Chapel Spared in Bill Funding New Border Barrier in Rio Grande Valley". Rivard Report. February 14, 2019.
  9. ^ "CONFERENCE REPORT [To accompany H.J. Res. 31]" (PDF). U.S. House of Representatives.
  10. ^ a b "The Case of Father Basil Onyia, Dallas Morning News, December 6, 2004". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  11. ^ a b "Clergy Disclosure List". Diocese of Brownsville. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  12. ^ "Police: Catholic deacon, principal accused of sexually assaulting altar boy". KVEO-TV. 2014-01-19. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  13. ^ a b "Sexual abuse lawsuit filed against Diocese of Brownsville". KVEO-TV. 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  14. ^ "Trial date set for Brownsville Catholic diocese sexual assault case". KVEO-TV. 2022-02-04. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  15. ^ "Diocese of Brownsville History". Diocese of Brownsville. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  16. ^ "Brownsville (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]".
  17. ^ About Us
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