Raymundo J. Peña
Bishop Raymundo J. Peña leaves the helm of the Diocese of Brownsville after more than 14 years, but he didn’t necessarily classify his departure as bittersweet.
"I think it’s more sweetness than bitterness because I feel comfortable with what we have accomplished together — all of us," Peña said Wednesday, presenting his successor Bishop Daniel E. Flores to the Catholic community.
"I feel very happy about the man that the Holy Father has chosen to succeed me. If I didn’t like the choice, I might have more bitterness, but it really makes me happy," Peña said.
Pope Benedict XVI announced the appointment of Flores, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, as the sixth bishop in Brownsville, following Peña’s resignation earlier this year. Church law required Peña, who turned 75 years old in February, to resign.
At the Pope’s request, Peña will continue at the helm of the diocese until Flores’ Feb. 2 installation.
"I am grateful to God for all that we have been able to do to build up his kingdom in the Rio Grande Valley for almost 15 years," Peña said, thanking everyone for their cooperation and support.
Peña, born in Corpus Christi, said that he will stay in the Rio Grande Valley and will continue to serve the church and God, working side by side with Flores. "I will support everything that he does," Peña said, adding that a kingdom in the Rio Grande Valley cannot be built with divisiveness.
But both divisiveness and unity have marked responses to his leadership.
Flores was introduced at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral where Peña celebrated his first Mass as the diocese’s leader in August 1995, following his installation at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle-National Shrine in San Juan.
According to the diocese, the history of the shrine began in 1920, when the Rev. Alfonso Jalbert, a missionary with the Catholic order Oblates of Mary Immaculate, built a small wooden chapel in San Juan.
Within two years as bishop in 1997, Peña caused strife and an outcry, not only within the diocese, but also in the Catholic community, when he announced that the diocese would take over the operations of the shrine from the Oblates.
On the other hand, Peña’s unwavering stance for fair and just immigration reform has received accolades from throughout the Rio Grande Valley community. He frequently expresses opposition to the fence along the U.S. border with Mexico, urging his audience to "plant the idea of justice" in students’ minds, Herald archives show.
Archives also reflect that he was a key player in the 1997 Papal Synod at Vatican City, as one of hundreds of bishops chosen to advise Pope John Paul II into the third millennium on issues including poverty, drugs and immigration.
Throughout the years at the forefront of the Catholic Church here, he has encouraged parishioners to visit nursing homes, detention centers and their neighbors to preach God’s love.
The religious-based grass roots group Valley Interfaith issued a statement Wednesday, recognizing Peña "for his many years of support for Valley Interfaith and the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation." The statement issued by Estela Sosa-Garza, Valley Interfaith co-chair of the executive committee, further notes that Peña’s support has extended to fellow organizations in El Paso and San Antonio.
Peña also recently told The Herald that he considers the First Diocesan Synod — where members of each parish prioritized their needs — among his greatest experiences.
But he also has religiously guarded affairs of the diocese, as the leader of the approximately 800,000-member Catholic community, that covers Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr counties.
Insight into the diocese stems from lawsuits and allegations against the diocese.
In 2002 and 2003, criticism against Peña mounted when priests were shuffled from one parish to another, some parish workers were fired, and parish workers sought union protection.
The operations and finances of RGV Educational Broadcasting — which is under the auspices of the diocese and has operated television and radio stations — also have been closely guarded throughout the years.
Then in 2004, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released an audit report stemming from the sexual abuse of minors, the diocese reported that seven of its priests abused 12 minors since 1965, the year when the diocese was established.
According to the report, since 1978 the diocese had paid $250,000 to counsel victims, $41,400 to counsel priests, $20,000 in legal fees and $120,000 in settlements with victims.
The amounts did not include a settlement reached by the diocese in November 2003 in a civil lawsuit against it and the Rev. Basil Onyia of Nigeria, who was charged on Feb. 10, 2001 with the sexual assault of a Hidalgo County girl.
Case documents showed that before Feb. 10, Peña had received about eight complaints about Onyia ranging from fiscal impropriety to taking two girls to his room.
