Diocese gave sons to Church

Bishop Mariano S. Garriga was born in the Vicariate of Brownsville, which became the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and went on to become the first native Texan to assume the episcopacy in the state. Three other men from the Diocese of Corpus Christi were also named bishops, including Raymundo Peña, James Tamayo and Daniel Flores. All three served as bishops in dioceses that were created from the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Bishop Garriga became bishop of Corpus Christi but received his formation in Kansas and Wisconsin and was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Bishops Peña, Tamayo and Flores were local priests, still remembered fondly by many parishioners throughout the diocese.

Bishop Raymundo J. Peña, now Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Brownsville, remembers his 19 years of service as a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi with fondness. Bishop Garriga ordained him in 1957 and he served in various parishes as parochial vicar during the early years of his priesthood.

Father Peña served as Diocesan Youth Director, associate editor, then editor of the Texas Gulf Coast Catholic, and as founding pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Corpus Christi. He also served as a diocesan consultor.

“It was exciting to launch the diocesan newspaper. My service there helped me realize the importance of using the media as a tool for evangelization, and this experience motivated my establishment of the Rio Grande Catholic in the Diocese of El Paso and The Valley Catholic in the Diocese of Brownsville,” Bishop Peña said.

Bishop Peña said his work in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, “helped me to appreciate the development of the entire diocese as a particular Church served by the bishop with assistance and collaboration of the priests, sisters and lay faithful of the diocese.”

In 1976, Pope Paul VI named Father Peña Auxiliary to the Archbishop of San Antonio. He went on to serve as bishop in El Paso and Brownsville.

Bishop James Tamayo, DD recently recalled the question posed by Sister Mary Lilia Aguilar, IWBS, while he was a first grader at Sacred Heart School in Corpus Christi. “Who wants to be a priest?” Bishop Tamayo’s hand immediately shot up and has never wavered.

He continued on to Christ the King School, where he attended from 2nd-8th grade. “The environment of Catholic schools provided me a path toward servant leadership,” Bishop Tamayo said.

With his parent’s blessing, he entered Corpus Christi Minor Seminary after graduating from Foy H. Moody High School in 1968. 

“Those two years of seminary formation with the Jesuit fathers in Corpus Christi laid a strong foundation for a life of prayer and service in the Church,” Bishop Tamayo said.

He attended St. Mary’s Major Seminary in Houston under the direction of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston and the St. Thomas University School of Theology under the guidance of the Basilian fathers. Throughout his seminary years, there was a special sense of pride that he was a seminarian preparing to be a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi—the diocese named for the Body of Christ.

In 1976, Bishop Thomas Joseph Drury ordained him a priest at Corpus Christi Cathedral. He went on to serve in parishes from St. Patrick in Corpus Christi to St. Andrew by the Sea Church on Padre Island. He also served as vice-chancellor, secretary to the bishop and vicar for clergy.

“I have received so many blessings and prayers from the people whose lives have touched mine. I pray that all to whom I ministered to may have also felt the presence of Christ the Good Shepherd responding to their needs,” Bishop Tamayo said.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores began his priesthood in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The early years as a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi were “happy years” for Bishop Flores, who is now bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.

“It gave me a chance in my first years of the priesthood to develop my personal sense of the many ways a priest can touch peoples’ lives. They were happy years for me, giving me a strong foundation in the joy of the priestly life, as one of service to the Lord Jesus, building up the local community through the bonds of grace,” he said.

Bishop Flores, who grew up in Corpus Christi, was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Corpus Christi by Bishop Rene H. Gracida on Jan. 30, 1988. He served in a number of capacities, including assistant to the rector and then rector of Corpus Christi Cathedral, secretary to the bishop, diocesan master of ceremonies, assistant chancellor, rector of the Saint John Vianney House of Studies and Episcopal Vicar for Vocations.

Bishop Flores said he values his years of service in the Diocese of Corpus Christi and the experience he gained over the 18 years of his priesthood in the varied positions.

“I think my sense of priestly priorities developed in my early experiences continue to influence me profoundly,” Bishop Flores said. “We have to be a people of communion, joined together in following Christ. We also have to be a people of service to those in need, and we have to be constantly nourished by the grace of the Eucharist and the other sacraments.”

Seven years after his ordination, Pope John Paul II named him a chaplain to His Holiness, with the honorary title of Monsignor in September 1995. In 1997, Bishop Roberto Gonzalez, OFM, sent him to Rome to study at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum). While there he completed his doctoral degree in sacred theology (S.T.D.). He returned to Corpus Christi in 2000, and was appointed chancellor of the diocese by Bishop Edmond Carmody.

He was assigned to serve in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in August 2001, as part of the formation faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary and the teaching faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology. He was named rector of Corpus Christi Cathedral in September 2005. He administered this office while completing his assignment in Houston during the 2005-06 academic year, and in June of 2006 he returned to assume the position of cathedral rector on a full-time basis.

Among the blessings of serving as a priest in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, he said the people are the ones who had the greatest impact. He said he values “the many generous and kind priests and people I grew to know and love, and whom I still remember in my prayers.”

Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Flores an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit on Oct. 28, 2006, and he was ordained bishop on Nov. 29. 2006. On Dec. 9, 2009, Pope Benedict named Bishop Flores the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.

Bishop Flores, whose mother and other family members live in or near Corpus Christi, remains connected to the city where he began his priestly ministry.