On Monday, Dec. 4, Pope Francis named Father Mario Alberto Avilés, CO, Auxiliary Bishop of Brownsville. Up until now, Father Avilés served as the Procurator General of the Congregation of the Oratory and as a parish priest in the Diocese of Brownsville.
The announcement was made in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Father Avilés was born in Mexico on Sept. 16, 1969. He joined the Congregation of the Oratory in Mexico City in 1986 and in 1988 he moved to the Pharr Oratory in Texas. He attended the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 1998.
He was ordained a priest on July 21, 1998. He then earned a master of divinity degree from Holy Apostles in Cromwell, Connecticut in 2000. He also has a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Phoenix.
His previous assignments include: parochial vicar, Jude Thaddeus parish in Pharr, Texas, 1998-2002, and pastor at Sacred Heart parish in Hidalgo, Texas, 2002-present. Other positions he has held include: deputy, Confederation of the Oratory permanent deputation, 2000-2012; director of the Oratory Academy and Oratory Athenaeum, 2005-2012; member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, 2011-present; and procurator general of the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, 2012-present.
The Diocese of Brownsville comprises 4,296 square miles. It has a total population of 1.3 million people of which 1.1 million, or 85 percent, are Catholic. The current bishop of Brownsville is Bishop Daniel E. Flores. Bishop Raymundo J. Peña serves as auxiliary bishop. Both Bishops Flores and Peña are were priests in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.