Joseph Anthony Fiorenza (January 25, 1931 – September 19, 2022) was an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was the seventh

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

and the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas, serving from 1985 to 2006. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo in Texas from 1979 to 1984.

Biography

Early life and education

Joseph Fiorenza was born in

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, the second of four sons of Anthony and Grace (née Galiano) Fiorenza. His father immigrated from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

at age 10, while his mother was the daughter of Sicilian immigrants. He attended St. Anthony High School in Beaumont, where he was football team captain and senior class president. Fiorenza skipped a grade and graduated from high school at age 16 in 1947. He then studied at St. Mary's Seminary in

La Porte, Texas La Porte ( ) is a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, within the Bay Area of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 35,124. La Porte is the fourth-largest incorporated c ...

Priesthood

Fiorenza was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood on May 29, 1954. His first assignment was as assistant

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of Queen of Peace Parish in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, where he remained for three years. In 1957, he became professor of medical ethics at Sacred Heart Dominican College and chaplain of St. Joseph Hospital, both in Houston. He served as administrator of Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Houston from 1959 to 1967. In 1965, Fiorenza participated in the

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...

in Alabama during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. Fiorenza served as pastor of St. Augustine Parish (1967 to 1969) and of St. Benedict the Abbot Parish (1969 to 1972), both in Houston. From 1972 to 1973, he was both pastor of Assumption Parish in Houston and vice- chancellor of the diocese. Fiorenza was named

honorary prelate of his holiness A Prelate of Honour of His Holiness is a Catholic prelate to whom the Pope has granted this title of honour. They are addressed as Monsignor and have certain privileges as regards clerical clothing.Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

on December 5, 1973, and served as diocesan chancellor from 1973 to 1979.

Bishop of San Angelo

On September 4, 1979, Fiorenza was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on October 25, 1979, from Archbishop Patrick Flores, with Bishops John Morkovsky and John E. McCarthy serving as co-consecrators, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Angelo.

Bishop and archbishop of Galveston-Houston

On December 18, 1984, Fiorenza was named bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston by Pope John Paul II. He was installed by Archbishop Patrick Flores in the presence of Archbishop Pio Laghi, the apostolic pro-nuncio. The Diocese of Galveston-Houston was elevated to the level of archdiocese by John Paul II on Dec. 29, 2004, at which point Fiorenza became an archbishop. On June 11, 2001, Fiorenza expressed his regret at the execution of

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...

, a domestic terrorist convicted of killing 168 people in the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

in 1995. Fiorenza said:

In an age where respect for life is threatened in so many ways, we believe it is important to emphasize that human life is a gift from God, and no one or any government should presume to kill God's gift.

When a wave of allegations of sexual abuse of boys and girls within the Catholic Church was widely reported from 2002, Fiorenza issued a statement proclaiming that the archdiocese would "make the protection and safety of children and young people a top priority", but it has been reported that nothing was done; internal memos from 1996—published in detail by the press—show that abuse was reported but ignored for years. In a 2006 news report Fiorenza was said to have had a tendency to accept troubled clergy into his domains; and the Galveston-Houston archdiocese acted to protect the church from public scrutiny, mounting vigorous legal defenses, blaming the victims, and obfuscating for the news media.

Retirement

Fiorenza submitted his letter of retirement as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

in February 2006 at the mandatory retirement age of 75. The pope accepted his resignation on February 28, 2006, and appointed former coadjutor archbishop

Daniel DiNardo Daniel Nicholas DiNardo (born May 23, 1949) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the second and current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Houston serving since 2006. He previously served as bishop of the Di ...

as Fiorenza's successor. Fiorenza has been living in retirement at the Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza Priest Retirement Residence in Houston. The Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza Park in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...

, is named after Fiorenza. In a February 2020 lawsuit filed against the archdiocese, a man and a woman from

Conroe, Texas Conroe is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about north of Houston. It is a principal city in the metropolitan area. As of 2021, the population was 98,081, up from 56,207 in 2010. Since 2007, the ...

accused Fiorenza of allowing the ordination of Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, despite a previous allegation of sexual abuse. In 1992, the Diocese of Galveston-Houston received an accusation that La Rosa-Lopez had molested a minor at St. Thomas More Parish in Houston. Despite this, Fiorenza allowed La Rosa-Lopez to be ordained a priest in 1999. Between 1998 and 2001, he allegedly molested the two plaintiffs at Sacred Heart Parish in Conroe, both of whom were children. Fiorenza met with the girl's family at the time of the initial accusation and promised to remove La Rosa-Lopez from the parish and send him for treatment. However, the allegations were never reported to police or to parishioners. In December 2020, LaRosa-Lopez pleaded guilty to felony indecency with a child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Appointments and board memberships

*Member of the administrative board of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1995– ? *Former member of the Bishops' Committee for Black Catholics *Vice-president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops – 1995–1998 *

Board member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association *Trustee of the University of St. Thomas in

*President of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities *President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops – 1998–2001

References

External links

* Fiorenza, Archbishop Joseph and David Goldstein
Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza Oral History
Houston Oral History Project, May 27, 2008.
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiorenza, Joseph 1931 births 2022 deaths People from Beaumont, Texas 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Roman Catholic archbishops of Galveston–Houston 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II