Steven J. Lopes

Steven Joseph Lopes (born April 22, 1975) is an American Roman Catholic prelate. He is the bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a community for former Anglican clergy and laypeople within the Catholic Church.

The Most Reverend Steven J. Lopes
Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
Bishop Lopes in 2019
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Diocese	Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
See	Houston, Texas
Appointed	November 24, 2015
Installed	February 2, 2016
Predecessor	Jeffrey N. Steenson
Orders
Ordination	June 23, 2001 by William Levada
Consecration	February 2, 2016 by Gerhard Müller, William Levada, Donald Wuerl
Personal details
Born	(1975-04-22) April 22, 1975 Fremont, California
Alma mater	University of San Francisco Saint Patrick's Seminary and University Pontifical Gregorian University
Motto	Magna Opera Domini ("Great are the works of the Lord")

Styles of Steven Joseph Lopes
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Early life and education

A native of Fremont, California, Lopes was born on April 22, 1975, the only child of José de Oliveira Lopes and Barbara Jane Lopes.[1][2] His father was from Portugal and his mother from Poland.[3] He was educated at Catholic schools in California: St. Pius School in Redwood City, St Edward's School in Newark, and Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward.[4]

Lopes studied at the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco, and also pursued studies at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.[5] His philosophical studies and preparation for the priesthood took place at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, before he was assigned to study theology in Rome. There he obtained a licentiate at the Pontifical Gregorian University while living at the Pontifical North American College.[5]

Ordained ministry

Lopes was ordained to the diaconate on October 5, 2000, during a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.[6] He was ordained a priest on June 23, 2001, for the Archdiocese of San Francisco by William Levada.[2][5][7] He served in two parishes in California as an associate pastor; St. Patrick's Catholic Church, San Francisco, and St. Anselm Catholic Church in Ross, California.[1]

Lopes returned to Rome to obtain a doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University.[1][5][8] Since 2005, he has served as an official of the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, while also serving as a professor of theology at the Gregorian. During that time, he served as a personal aide to William Cardinal Levada, who was prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 to 2012.[9] On July 10, 2010, he was appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness and therefore was then addressed as "Monsignor".[6] Starting in 2012, Lopes served as the secretary of the Vatican commission Anglicanae Traditiones, which was formed with the goal of developing a missal that would blend Anglican and Roman Rite liturgical elements for the use of the personal ordinariates.[2][9]

Episcopal ministry

On November 24, 2015, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis had appointed Lopes as the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a church structure for Catholics in the US and Canada who were formerly Anglicans.[2][5][8] This announcement coincided with the first Sunday on which the ordinariates began celebrating Mass using Divine Worship: The Missal, developed while Lopes was serving on the Anglicanae Traditiones commission in Rome. As ordinary, Lopes succeeded Jeffrey N. Steenson, a former Episcopal bishop appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.[5][2][10] On February 2, 2016, he was consecrated a bishop in Houston and took canonical possession of the ordinariate.[8] Lopes is the first bishop to lead any of the three ordinariates.[5]

References

1. "Pope Francis Names First Bishop to Lead Catholics Nurtured in the Anglican Tradition" (Press release). Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
2. "American Ordinariate given its first bishop". The Catholic Herald. November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
3. "The Ex-Anglicans of America Say No To Communion for the Divorced and Remarried". February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017. Its bishop is Steven J. Lopes, 42, born in California to a Portuguese father and Polish mother, who for ten years, since 2005, has been an official of the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith, and was promoted to his present role by Pope Francis on November 24, 2015.
4. "Biographical Summary". The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
5. Harris, Elise (November 24, 2015). "Pope names first Catholic bishop to oversee Anglican ordinariate". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
6. "Monsignor Steven J. Lopes - Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. November 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
7. "Fast Facts: Bishop-elect Lopes". Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
8. Barned-Smith, St. John; Turner, Allan (November 24, 2015). "From Houston, new bishop will reach out across the nation". The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
9. Allen, John L. (November 25, 2015). "Anglican appointment reveals continuity between Pope Francis and Benedict". Crux. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
10. Wooden, Cindy (November 24, 2015). "Pope names Vatican official head of North American Anglican ordinariate". The Catholic Register. Retrieved November 27, 2015.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Jeffrey N. Steenson	Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter 2016–present	Succeeded by Incumbent

External links

• Steven J. Lopes at Catholic Hierarchy website
• Bishop Stephen J. Lopes at Ordinariate.net

See also

• List of youngest living Catholic bishops