Chicago Hispanics Celebrate Appointment of New Bishop

By Alfonso Aguilar
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/6/03)

Combined with CNS reports

A wish held for a long time finally came true for Hispanic Catholics in Chicago — a Mexican-born priest was named auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese.

Father Gustavo García-Siller, 46, California-based superior of the U.S.-Canadian vicariate of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, and two other priests, were named by the pope auxiliary bishops to Cardinal Francis E. George. The Cardinal recently introduced the three newly appointed to his archdiocese, the sixth largest in the country in terms of Hispanic population.

The other two new auxiliary bishops are Father Francis J. Kane, 60, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Wilmette, and Father Thomas J. Paprocki, 50, pastor of St. Constance Parish of Chicago's northwest side.

The three new auxiliary bishops succeed three, age 75 or older, whose resignations were accepted by the pope. Thus, the archdiocese will keep its seven auxiliary bishops.

"We welcomed the news with enormous happiness," said Father Esequiel Sánchez, director of the Office for Hispanic Catholics of the Archdiocese of Chicago. "Father García-Siller is an excellent priest, very well educated and he is familiar with Hispanic Catholics in the United States," he added.

"Our community received the good news with happiness," said María del Carmen Macías, editor of the Chicago Católico, the archdiocesen monthly newspaper.

Although the appointment of a Hispanic bishop "has been in the atmosphere for a long time, the announcement was unexpected and surprised us," said Del Carmen, a native from Mexico like the great majority of Hispanics living in Illinois.

Father Gustavo García-Siller was born Dec. 21, 1956, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. He entered the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit in 1973 in Mexico City and then studied at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, Calif. He was ordained in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 22, 1984, at the age of 28.

Now, Bishop García-Siller will serve in an archdiocese where Hispanics make up 38 percent of the total Catholic population, according to a survey conducted last November, reported Father Esequiel. "However, we believe that the percentage is a little bit higher."

The state of Illinois has 3.8 million Catholics, or 31.6 percent of the total population, according to the Catholic Almanac 2002. The Archdiocese of Chicago is home to the great majority with 2.4 million persons or 43.2 percent of the total population in Chicago.

According to recent census data, there are 1.1 million Hispanics in Chicago, 70 percent of Mexican origin.

"The appointment of Father García-Siller will bring a lot of knowledge and experience to an archdiocese where Hispanics were waiting for this news," said theologian Alejandro Aguilera Titus, associate director of the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs. "Given that Hispanics make up at least 40 percent of the total Catholic population in Chicago, it was difficult to understand how none of the seven auxiliary bishops were Hispanic," he said.

Aguilera mentioned that among the many positive aspects of Father García-Siller are his extensive knowledge of Hispanics in this country and his experience in religious formation.

With the appointment of Father García-Siller, the total number of Hispanic bishops in the United States is 25.

"We can predict that the number of Hispanic bishops will continue the trend of the previous years," said Aguilera. "Just in the last two years we had had five new bishops, and 15 percent of the total ordinations in 2002 were of Hispanic persons."

The new bishops are to be ordained March 19 at the Cathedral of Holy Name. "It will be a great day for our community and for the Church as a whole," said Father Esequiel Sánchez. 

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