Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSp.S, 53, as the 6th Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. He will succeed Archbishop José H. Gomez, who was named in April 2010 to be the successor to Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles upon his retirement in early 2011. The Vatican made Archbishop-designate García-Siller’s appointment official on October 14, 2010 at 5 a.m. Central Time. His installation as Archbishop of San Antonio is scheduled for November 23, 2010.
When he received the news of his appointment the Archbishop-designate said, “I felt a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to serve the people of the Archdiocese. I felt real happiness and joy tempered by a deep awareness of the great responsibility I had been asked to embrace. From the moment I said yes, I felt, in faith, a deep affection for the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.”
Introducing the Archbishop-designate, during a news conference at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center, Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Oscar Cantú said: “I am delighted that the Holy Father sends us a shepherd who knows deeply the Good Shepherd; one who is passionate about his love for Jesus Christ, about his love for the Church, and about his love for his sheep.”
Archbishop-designate Gustavo García-Siller was born in San Luis Potosí S.L.P., Mexico, to Gustavo García Suarez and Maria Cristina Siller de Garcia. He is the eldest of 15 children. His brother, Eugene, is also a priest.
He studied at St. Johns Seminary in Camarillo, California, and the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and holds master of arts degrees in philosophy, divinity and psychology. He was ordained in Guadalajara, June 22, 1984.
He served at St. Josephs Parish in Selma, California, from 1984-1988, and then studied at Western Jesuit University, Guadalajara. From 1994-1999, he was rector of houses of studies of his order in Lynwood and Long Beach, California; and in Portland, Oregon. From 1999 to 2002, he was Rector of the theologate house of his congregation in Oxnard, California, and also served in three parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was named superior of the Holy Spirit Congregations province in 2002. As a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he has served as a member of the Subcommittees on African-American Affairs and Hispanic Affairs.
Archbishop-designate Garcia-Siller is a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. He was superior of the congregation's United States and Canadian province, Cristo Sacerdote, when he was named an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 2003.
The Archdiocese of San Antonio comprises 23,180 square miles. It has a total population of 2,315,988 people, of whom 702,547, or 30 percent, are Catholic.
For up-to-date information, visit the Archdiocese of San Antonio's web page.
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