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July 26, 2018
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, to be coadjutor bishop of San Jose.
Bishop Cantu, 51, has headed the Diocese of Las Cruces since February 2013. Bishop Patrick J. McGrath, who turned 73 on June 11, has headed the Diocese of San Jose since 1999.
The appointment was announced July 11 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
A Mass of welcome will be celebrated for Bishop Cantu Sept. 28 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose.
“I congratulate Bishop Cantu on his appointment and thank him for his willingness to come West,” Bishop McGrath said in a statement. “I look forward to collaborating with him in our ministry of service to the people of this local church.”
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Bishop Cantu “brings a wealth of gifts to the service of the people of God in San Jose and California. I am thankful for this assistance provided to Bishop McGrath by Pope Francis.”
In a welcoming meeting posted on the San Jose diocesan YouTube channel, Bishop Cantu discussed the importance of serving the poor and of evangelizing young people. He recalled a conference he attended on the upcoming synod on youth, vocations and discernment, noting that the meeting discussed the great number of baptized Catholics among the religiously disaffiliated known as “nones.”
“If this isn’t a wakeup call for the church, then we might as well roll over into our graves,” he said. “It was certainly a wakeup call for me.”
He said the trend is “a wakeup call not only to talk about the new evangelization – new methods, new zeal, new language – but to begin living it. It begins, continues and ends with an encounter with Jesus Christ.” The video is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KORRSPoaj0s.
Bishop Cantu is the former chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. He is currently a member of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America and the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs.
He was one of two delegates chosen by the bishops to represent the USCCB during Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico in 2016.
Before he was named to head the Las Cruces diocese, he was an auxiliary bishop of San Antonio for five years.
He was born in Houston Dec. 5, 1966, the son of Ramiro and Maria de Jesus Cantu, natives of small towns near Monterrey in Mexico. He is the fifth of eight children – five boys and three girls.
He spent his priestly career working in parishes throughout the Houston metropolitan area.
He was involved in the Christian Family movement; conducted retreats and worked with the Engaged Encounter ministry. Bishop Cantu was also involved in The Metropolitan Organization, or TMO, which addresses social issues in the community.
A coadjutor automatically becomes the head of the diocese upon the death or retirement of its bishop.
Bishop McGrath, a native of Ireland, was an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco from 1989 until 1998 when he was named coadjutor of San Jose. He became the head of the diocese after Bishop R. Pierre DuMaine retired. Bishop DuMaine was the first bishop of the San Jose Diocese, which was created in 1981.
Catholic San Francisco contributed.