Appointment of auxiliary bishop of Brownsville, United States of America

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishop of Brownsville, United States of America, Rev. Fr. Mario Alberto Avilés, C.O., currently procurator general of the Confederation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri and pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish in Hidalgo, assigning him the titular see of Cataquas.

Rev. Fr. Mario Alberto Avilés, C.O.

The Rev. Fr. Mario Alberto Avilés, C.O., was born on 16 September in Mexico City, in the archdiocese of México. In 1986 he entered the Oratory in Mexico City. In 1988 he transferred to the Pharr Oratory in the diocese of Brownsville, Texas. After attending the “Pan Americana” University in Mexico City, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (1995) and in theology (1988) from the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and a “Master of Divinity” from the “Holy Apostles” Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut (2000), He subsequently obtained a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix.

He was ordained a priest on 21 July 1998 for the Confederation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.

Since priestly ordination he has held the following offices: vicar of the “Saint Jude Thaddeus Parish” in Pharr (1998-2002); pastor of the “Sacred Heart Parish” in Hidalgo (from 2002); head of the “Oratory Academy and Oratory Athenaeum” in Pharr (2005-2012); member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in Brownsville (from 2011); procurator general of the Confederation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (from 2012).

He knows Spanish, English and Italian.