Pope Benedict XVI has named 68-year-old Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, as Bishop of Fresno, California. He succeeds Bishop John Steinbock, who died December 5, 2010.
The appointment was publicized in Washington, December 1, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Armando Ochoa was born April 9, 1943, in Oxnard, California. He studied at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1970.
Bishop Ochoa served in several Los Angeles parishes and was associate director of the Spanish-speaking permanent diaconate for the archdiocese. He was named an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1986, and named bishop of El Paso in 1996.
At the national level, he has served on bishops’ committees on vocations, laity, permanent diaconate, Hispanic affairs and migration.
The Fresno Diocese has a Catholic population of 1,074,901 persons, which is 39 percent of a total population of 2,756,266.
Bishop Ochoa’s Message: Appointment as Bishop of Fresno
It was fifteen years ago that I received a call from the Nuncio saying that I had been appointed the fifth bishop of El Paso. The actual announcement was on April fool’s Day, 1996.
Even though today is not April fool’s Day, I take this opportunity to advise you that I have been appointed the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Fresno in California, (area 36,000 square miles, population 1,064,700 Catholics, The Vatican announced my appointment early this morning and I wanted to share the news with you my former and new collaborators in the vineyard of the Lord.
While I was at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s meeting in Baltimore two weeks ago, our new Nuncio to the United States, His Excellency, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, pulled me aside and broke the news to me. I am still in the state of shock! I am humbled and deeply honored that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI would offer me this new challenge at my age.
I have been privileged to have worked with and gotten to know you my brothers, here in the border region of El Paso. I am still in awe that you so readily accepted me as your new shepherd. Please know that you all will be in my prayers as we await the commemoration of the Birth of the Lord.
The Diocese of Fresno is in central California, but it neighbors my former Archdiocese of Los Angeles. As it turns out, my former Metropolitan Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, becomes my new Metropolitan Archbishop. My new southernmost community of Frasier Park, was my neighbor in my former San Fernando Pastoral Region in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The diocese of Fresno covers 36,000 square miles, has 89 parishes, 43 missions, 20 Catholic Elementary Schools and 2 Catholic High Schools. Fresno serves some 42,500 young people in classes of Religious Education, and there are 2 Catholic Hospitals in the diocese.
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Pope Benedict XVI has named 68-year-old Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, as Bishop of Fresno, California. He succeeds Bishop John Steinbock, who died December 5, 2010.
It was fifteen years ago that I received a call from the Nuncio saying that I had been appointed the fifth bishop of El Paso. The actual announcement was on April fool’s Day, 1996.
While I was at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s meeting in Baltimore two weeks ago, our new Nuncio to the United States, His Excellency, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, pulled me aside and broke the news to me. I am still in the state of shock! I am humbled and deeply honored that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI would offer me this new challenge at my age.