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February 10, 2023WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- Pope Francis has appointed Father Anthony C. Celino, a priest of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, to be an auxiliary bishop of the diocese.
Bishop-elect Celino, 50, currently serves as judicial vicar and director of the diocesan tribunal and also is pastor of St. Raphael Parish in El Paso.
The appointment was publicized Feb. 8 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States.
Bishop-elect Celino, who was born in the Philippines, was ordained to the priesthood June 9, 1997. Since his ordination, he has had a number of parish assignments and has served various roles in diocesan offices, including as diocesan administrator, vicar general, moderator of the curia and chancellor.
Bishop-elect Celino's episcopal ordination has been scheduled for March 31 at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso. He will be the third U.S. bishop of Filipino descent and is the first auxiliary bishop to be named for the west Texas diocese since it was established in 1914.
"We thank the Holy Father for his attention and care for the Diocese of El Paso," Bishop Mark J. Seitz said in a statement. "Bishop-elect Celino's qualities are known in the diocese. He has previously served as my vicar general and made substantive contributions to the local church's life. He brings a unique experience as a Filipino immigrant serving our border community as a priest for the past 25 years, a steadfast dedication to pastoral ministry and fidelity to the Gospel."
In the interim, Bishop-elect Celino will remain in his current position as pastor of St. Raphael Parish on El Paso's east side and as judicial vicar of the diocese until later this spring.
Bishop-elect Celino was born in the Philippines April 29, 1972, to the late Mines (Cerdan) and Teodolo Celino. He is the youngest of seven children. Bishop-elect Celino attended Mary Help of Christians High School Seminary and Mary Help of Christians College Seminary in the Philippines. He earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy from the college in 1993.
Bishop-elect Celino emigrated directly to the El Paso area from the Philippines in 1993. He graduated from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, in 1997 with a bachelor of sacred theology and master of divinity degrees. He received a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington in 2003.
After his ordination in 1997, Bishop-elect Celino was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso and then at Our Lady of Peace in Alpine, Texas. He also served as the pastor of the former Santa Lucia Parish, now St. John Paul II Parish.
In addition to the diocesan posts he has held, Bishop-elect Celino has taught at the diocese's Tepeyac Institute, ?a formation center for the laity.
From December 2011 to July 2013, he served as the delegate of the apostolic administrator of the diocese after now-retired Bishop Armando X. Ochoa, El Paso's bishop for six years, was appointed to head the Diocese of Fresno, Calif., Dec. 1, 2011. Until his successor was named in El Paso, Bishop Ochoa was the diocese's apostolic administrator.
Bishop Seitz was a Dallas auxiliary bishop when he was appointed to head the El Paso Diocese May 6, 2013, and installed July 9 of that year.
The nine-county diocese at the western tip of Texas covers 26,686 square miles and according to its website,www.elpasodiocese.org, the diocese has a Catholic population of 686,037 out of a total population of 858,546. The diocese is bordered by the Rio Grande and just across the river from the city of El Paso is the sprawling metropolis of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
The El Paso diocese and other Catholic agencies provide resources and offer hospitality to migrants, immigrants and refugees coming across the border.
The border diocese and its counterpart in Mexico regularly celebrate a Mass to remember migrants who have died trying to get into the United States by crossing the waters of the Rio Grande or elsewhere along the border.