October 21, 2009

New bishop named for Pueblo

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya, 76, and has named a new bishop for the Diocese of Pueblo, Colo.

He named Father Fernando Isern, a priest of the Miami Archdiocese, to succeed Bishop Tafoya as bishop of Pueblo.

The changes were announced in Washington Oct. 15 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

 “Bishop-elect Fernando Isern is new to the Rocky Mountain west, but he comes with the enthusiastic support of the many laypeople and bishops, in Florida and elsewhere, who know the excellent quality of his priestly service,”   Denver prelates Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley said in a joint statement. “He has an outstanding record of leadership as a pastor, a devotion to prison ministry and advocacy for the unborn child and the poor, strong personal roots in the Latino community, and a demonstrated ability to work with persons of many different ethnic and social backgrounds.

“Bishop Arthur Tafoya has served the Church in the Diocese of Pueblo in a distinguished way for many years,” the statement notes. “He will be greatly missed as a brother and leader as he begins a well-earned retirement.  But he can take joy and confidence—as we do—in the character of the man who now takes up his duties.” 

Bishop-designate Isern will be ordained a bishop and installed as head of the Pueblo Diocese Dec. 10. Because he succeeds another Hispanic bishop who retired, the number of active Hispanic bishops in the U.S. remains at 27.

Bishop-designate Isern was born Sept. 22, 1958, in Havana. He was ordained a priest for the Miami Archdiocese in 1993. He has a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, Miami. He attended St. John Vianney College Seminary there and St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Since his ordination he has had several parish assignments. Since 2003 he has been pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami.

Bishop Tafoya has headed the Pueblo Diocese since 1980. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., in 1962.

On the national level, Bishop Tafoya has served on several bishops’ committees, including the Administrative Committee and what is now called the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. He has been a member of the National Advisory Council and has been on the board of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

In Florida, Bishop-designate Isern said he will “embrace” his new diocese “with a missionary spirit” and will be a pastor to the people there. He said that in the phone call he received from Archbishop Sambi about his appointment, he could hear “the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is in the power of that Spirit that you place all your trust.”

Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora described the newly appointed bishop as a priest “who has won the respect of the clergy, religious and laity of Miami as he has demonstrated his good priestly leadership in all of his pastoral assignments.”
The Pueblo Diocese covers 48,155 square miles. The total population of the area is estimated at 621,000; Catholics number 96,904, or 16 percent.

“I congratulate Rev. Fernando Isern as the newly appointed bishop of Pueblo,” Bishop Tafoya said in a statement. “It has been my great privilege to have served the people of the diocese for the past 29 years. I am grateful to the Holy Father for the opportunity to now retire.

“I am renewed and hopeful,” he added, “that the beloved people of our Diocese of Pueblo will embrace Father Isern and continue their spiritual journey under his care.”

In other appointments announced Oct. 15, the pope named Father Paul Sirba, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to head the Duluth Diocese. The pontiff also named Msgr. Robert C. Evans, a Providence, R.I., diocesan priest, to be auxiliary bishop of the Providence Diocese.

The Denver Catholic Register contributed to this report.