MIAMI | As applause and
cheers filled St. Mary Cathedral, Miami’s newest auxiliary bishop placed his
hand on his heart, bowed his head gently, and smiled.
Bishop Enrique Delgado’s gesture at his ordination ceremony —
repeated also during his emotional remarks at the end — typified the humility and
the attitude with which he assumes his new role. As he told the people of his
parish, St. Katharine Drexel, at the solemn vespers the night before:
“I have always said I am a parish priest for the people and now
I am going to be a bishop for the people, because the mission of the Church is
to serve,” he said. “Jesus said it very clearly that we have to be servants of
the servants, and that is what a priest and a bishop is called to be, so I just
want you to see me always as a servant of the Lord.”
The former industrial engineer, who also holds a master’s degree
in economics with specializations in finance and accounting, and a doctorate in
practical theology, is the first Peruvian to be named a bishop in the U.S. He becomes
Miami’s 11th auxiliary bishop. Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami
in 1996 in his native Lima, he has served as pastor of two parishes here: St.
Justin Martyr in Key Largo from 2003 to 2010, and St. Katharine Drexel in
Weston since 2010.
“In stature, a small bishop. But in life in the Spirit, very
big,” said Father Michael “Happy” Hoyer, describing his longtime friend.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski lays hands on Father Enrique Delgado, calling down the Holy Spirit and at that moment ordaining him bishop.
Father Hoyer, pastor of St. Gregory Parish in Plantation, has
known the new bishop since before he entered the seminary, when he spent six
months at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, where Father Hoyer was pastor, learning about
parish life in Miami.
Father Hoyer was part of the group of Miami priests who
traveled to Peru for Bishop Delgado’s priestly ordination. And he was one of
two priest chaplains at his ordination to the episcopacy Dec. 7 at St. Mary Cathedral.
The other was a link back home: Father Alberto Ríos, the vicar general of the
Archdiocese of Arequipa, Peru.
The role of the priest chaplain in the ordination rite is to
present the bishop-elect for ordination, which Father Hoyer did. Immediately
after, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., read the
apostolic letter from Pope Francis appointing Father Delgado “titular bishop of
Aquae Novae in Proconsulari” and auxiliary bishop to Miami. (All bishops must
have a see, or geographic area to govern. Auxiliary bishops and others who do
not head dioceses are made “titular” shepherds of dioceses that no longer
exist.)
“Is he a good choice? Yes,” said Father Hoyer, noting that no
priest starts out with the expectation of becoming a bishop. “But when the
Spirit calls…”
In fact, Bishop Delgado told Father Hoyer that when Archbishop Pierre
called him back in October to ask if he would be willing to serve as bishop, “I
had to say yes.”
“The Holy Father and the Holy Spirit [are calling]. How are you
going to say no to that?” Father Hoyer said, adding that his friend is “very
excited and very happy. His life will change. He mentioned that” before the
ceremony.
Among the others who are very happy with the new bishop’s appointment
are his numerous family members. Bishop Delgado is the fourth of 12 children
born to Rafael and Carmen Delgado.
“My mother … is watching me in heaven, and my father … is
watching me in the internet,” the new bishop noted in his closing remarks,
alluding to the live-streaming of the ordination Mass on the archdiocesan
website, YouTube and Facebook.
“She would really be very happy,” said Bishop Delgado’s oldest
brother, Rafael, referring to their mother, a daily Massgoer, who died a few
years ago.
Rafael Delgado was part of a 27-member contingent of siblings,
nieces and nephews who traveled to Miami for the ordination; 12 of them from
Lima, the rest from Virginia and other parts of the U.S. Their father, now in
his 90s, opted not to travel for the ordination.
“He was always close to the Church,” Rafael said of Enrique.
So the family was not terribly surprised when, at the age of 31, he decided to leave
a successful career in the secular world to enter the seminary. “The surprise
came when he said he was coming to Miami to study” — a place where he really
had no connections.
And now, he’s an auxiliary bishop here.
“Really, it’s like a dream,” Rafael Delgado said. “Being a
bishop is a special grace.”
A grace and a privilege that Bishop Delgado is taking quite
seriously, according to Father Hoyer. Prior to the ordination Mass, he said,
the new bishop told him, “I pray every night that I will do the Lord’s will in
everything I do.”
To which Father Hoyer said he replied, “The mere fact that you
are asking all the time to do God’s will means you are doing God’s will.”