tvc.dsj.org | December 11, 2018
IN THE CHURCH
13
Austin, Texas, Auxiliary Bishop Named to Head Diocese of Monterey
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Fran-
cis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, as
the new bishop of Monterey, California.
The 58-year-old Texas bishop suc-
ceeds the late Bishop Richard J. Garcia,
who died July 11 of complications from
Alzheimer’s disease. He was 71 and had
headed the diocese since 2007.
The appointment was announced
November 27 in Washington by Arch-
bishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic
nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Daniel Garcia, who is a native
of Texas, has been an auxiliary bishop
for Austin since 2015. He was ordained
a priest for the diocese May 28, 1988.
He is bilingual in Spanish and English.
He will be installed as the fifth
bishop of Monterey January 30.
Bishop Garcia’s episcopal appoint-
ment is the fifth one from the Diocese
of Austin made by a pope since 2010. In
that year, Pope Benedict XVI appointed
Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey to lead
the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas.
In 2013, Pope Francis appointed Bishop
Michael J. Sis to lead the Diocese of San
Angelo, Texas.
In 2015, Pope Francis appointed Bish-
op Garcia as the first auxiliary bishop
of Austin, serving with Austin Bishop
Auxiliary Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin,
Texas, has been appointed as the new
Bishop of Monterey.
Joe S. Vasquez. A year earlier Bishop
Vasquez had appointed then-Father
Garcia vicar general and moderator of
the curia.
In 2016, Pope Francis appointed
Bishop David A. Konderla to lead the
Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2017,
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Wil-
liam A. Wack to lead the Diocese of
Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida.
Daniel Elias Garcia was born Aug.
30, 1960, the eldest of four children of
Daniel Castilleja Garcia Jr. and the late
Sarah Munoz Garcia. He grew up in
Cameron, Texas.
He earned an associate of arts de-
gree from Tyler Junior College in 1982.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree in
Prayer Is a Constant Learning Experience
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – Jesus’ way of
praying to his father throughout his
life is a reminder for Christians that
prayer is more than asking God for
something but is a way of establishing
an intimate relationship with him, Pope
Francis said.
Prayer is a longing within one’s
soul that is “perhaps one of the most
profound mysteries of the universe,”
the pope said December 5 during his
weekly general audience in the Paul VI
audience hall.
“Even if we have perhaps been pray-
ing for so many years, we must always
learn!” he said.
Beginning a new series of audience
talks on the “Our Father,” the pope
reflected on the disciples’ request to
Jesus to teach them how to pray.
The Gospels, he said, offer “very
vivid portraits of Jesus as a man of
prayer” who, despite the urgency of his
public ministry, often felt the need to
withdraw into solitude and pray.
“In some pages of Scripture, it seems
that it is first Jesus’ prayer, his intimacy
with the Father, that governs every,
thing,” the pope said.
This intimacy, he added, is evident
in Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Geth-
semane where he experienced “real
agony,” yet was given the strength to
continue along “the way toward the
cross” where even in his final moments,
he prayed the Psalms.
“Jesus prayed intensely in public mo-
ments, sharing the liturgy of his people,
but he also looked for select places, sepa-
rated from the whirlwind of the world,
places that allowed him to descend into
the secret of his soul,” the pope said.
Pope Francis said that in teaching his
disciples to pray, Jesus shows that he is
not “possessive of his intimacy with the
father” but rather came into the world
“to introduce us into this intimacy.”
However, he said, the first step in
establishing this relationship with God
through prayer is humility.
“The first step to pray is to be hum-
ble, to go to the father, to go to Our Lady
and say, ‘Look at me, I’m a sinner, I am
weak, I am bad,’” the pope said. “Ev-
eryone knows what to say but it always
begins with humility. The Lord listens;
a humble prayer is always listened to
by the Lord.”
philosophy from St. Mary’s Seminary at
the University of St. Thomas in Houston
in 1984 and earned a master’s of divinity
from the same university in 1988. He
earned a master’s of arts in liturgical
studies in 2007 from St. John’s University
in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Bishop Garcia has served in a variety
of roles in the Diocese of Austin. His
first assignment was as associate pas-
tor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in
Austin, followed by Cristo Rey Parish
in Austin and St. Louis King of France
Parish in Austin. He briefly served at St.
Mary Magdalene Parish in Humble in
the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
In 1995, he was named founding
pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish
in Austin, leading the parish from its
inception through multiple building
projects until his appointment as vicar
general and moderator of the curia in
2014. His episcopal ordination as Austin
auxiliary bishop was March 3, 2015.
On the national level, he is chair-
man of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops’ Subcommittee on Worship in
Spanish. He is a member of the USCCB
Committee on Divine Worship and the
USCCB Committee on Communica-
tions, as well as a consultant to the US-
CCB Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs.
The Diocese of Monterey covers
about 22,000 square miles in central
California. It has a total population of
close to 1.05 million; about 20 percent,
or 209,650, are Catholic.
In April of this year, Bishop Richard
Garcia’s was diagnosed with the onset
of Alzheimer’s disease and “experi-
enced a very rapid decline in health,”
the diocese said in a statement at the
time of his death.
“As a spiritual shepherd, he had
a special concern for the poor, the
incarcerated, migrant workers and im-
migrant communities,” it said. “He was
proud of his Mexican-American heritage
and the diversity of cultures that are
represented in the church.”
The diocese added: “Bishop Garcia
was known for his very personable,
welcoming and friendly demeanor. He
always had time for his priests, dea-
cons, religious, seminarians and the
people of God throughout the Diocese
of Monterey.”
At his installation Mass, a multilin-
gual liturgy which drew over 1,700 peo-
ple to the Monterey Conference Center,
the late bishop had asked Catholics of
California’s central coast to “work with
me, minister with me, collaborate with
me, build with me and love with me.”