BISHOPS' BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Members of the Delegation:

 

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Most Reverend Gerald R. Barnes, Bishop of San Bernardino, CA., Chairman of the USCCB Migration Committee
The Most Rev. Gerald R. Barnes was appointed the second Bishop of San Bernardino by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, on Dec. 28, 1995. He had served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese since March 18, 1992.

The centerpiece of his episcopacy thus far has been the diocesan Pastoral Planning Process that has yielded a long-term Vision for the Diocese and has united the efforts of many throughout Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to realize a society founded upon the values of the Gospel and characterized by an ever-present sense of hope.

In addition to his diocesan work, Bishop Barnes is Chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Refugees and Migrants. He also holds membership in the USCCB Administrative Committee and the Communication Committee. He is a Board Member of the Mexican American Cultural Center and of Assumption Seminary. Locally he sits on the Board of Inland Empire Hispanic Scholarship Fund. He has recently become a member of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for the Church in Africa.
 

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Most Reverend Armando Ochoa, Bishop of El Paso, Texas, member of the USCCB Migration Committee

Bishop Armando X. Ochoa was born in Oxnard, California, in 1943, the second of three children born to Angel and Mary Ochoa He received his elementary education at Santa Clara Elementary and graduated from Santa Clara High School in Oxnard in 1961. His college and post graduate education was taken at St. John’s Seminary College and St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California.

Bishop Ochoa was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 23, 1970, by Cardinal Timothy Manning. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Alphonsus Church, Los Angeles; St. John the Baptist Church, Baldwin Park; and St. Teresa of Avila Church, Los Angeles. While an Associate Pastor at St. Teresa of Avila, he was named a Monsignor, Chaplain to His Holiness, in 1982. Bishop Ochoa was appointed Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Los Angeles, in December, 1984. Prior to his ordination as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in February, 1987, he served as a board member and later as co-director of the Permanent Diaconate Program of the Archdiocese. He also headed the Secretariat for Ethnic Ministry Services.

As a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Ochoa has served as a member of the Administrative Committee, Evangelization Committee, Laity Committee, Subcommittee on Lay Ministry, and is presently serving on the Hispanic Affairs Committee, Diaconate Committee and Migration Committee.  In 2004 Bishop Ochoa was appointed as the Delegate for the United States for the 48th International Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.  

Bishop Ochoa was ordained the fifth Bishop of El Paso on June 26, 1996.

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Most Reverend Jaime Soto, Auxiliary Bishop of Orange, Calif., representing the Board of Directors of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) (will visit the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the Diocese of El Paso, Texas)

The Most Reverend Jaime Soto was born on December 31, 1955 at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood, California. His family moved to Stanton, California in 1956 were he attended Saint Polycarp School. In 1974, Monsignor Soto graduated from Mater Dei High School.

 

Monsignor Soto attended Saint John's Seminary College in Camarillo, California and in 1978 graduated with a Bachelor's of Art in Philosophy. He continued with Saint John's for four more years and received his M. Div. in 1982. He was ordained for Priestly service in the Diocese of Orange in June, 1982.

 

He served as Associate Pastor at Saint Joseph Church in Santa Ana, California from June, 1982 to July, 1984. After which he attended Columbia University School of Social Work in New York City from 1984 to 1986, graduating with a Master's in Social Work.

He assumed a position as Associate Director of Catholic Charities of Orange in July, 1986. In December of 1986 he assumed the directorship of the Immigration and Citizenship at Catholic Charities. He was involved with the implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

 

He was appointed by the Most Reverend Norman F. McFarland, Bishop of Orange, as the Episcopal Vicar for the Hispanic Community on March 3, 1989. He was named a prelate of honor by his Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in 1990 and given the title of Monsignor. While continuing to work as the Episcopal Vicar for the Hispanic Community Msgr. Soto was appointed by the Most Reverend Tod D. Brown, Bishop of Orange, as Vicar for Charities on March 1, 1999.

 

He has served on the following boards and committees:

  • The Orange County HIV Advisory Committee

  • The Orange County Legal Aid Society

  • The Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights

  • The Girl Scout Council of Orange County

  • The Orange County Congregation Community Organization

  • The Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross

Currently Msgr. Soto serves on the following boards and committee:

  • United Way of Orange County Board of Directors

  • THINK Together, (Homework Center Program)

  • Catholic Charities of Orange County

  • Advisory Board of the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, Orange County Community Foundation

  • Pacific Council on International Policy

  • Diocesan Council of Priests

  • Saint Vincent de Paul Society

Bishop Soto was ordained Bishop on May 31st, 2000
 

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Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, a member of the
Board of Trustees of Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Bishop John Brendan McCormack was installed as the ninth bishop of Manchester on September 21, 1998.

 

Bishop McCormack was born August 12, 1935, in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the son of the late Cornelius and Eleanor (Noonan) McCormack.

 

He attended St. Mary’s Grammar School in Cambridge, Boston College High School in Boston, Cardinal O’Connell Seminary College, and St. John’s Seminary, both in Boston, Massachusetts. Cardinal Richard Cushing ordained him a priest on February 2, 1960. He pursued graduate studies at Boston College, earning a master’s degree in social work in 1969.

 

Following his ordination as a priest, Bishop McCormack served as an associate at St. James Parish, Salem, Massachusetts, and was later appointed executive director of North Shore Catholic Charities Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, where he served from 1967 – 1981.

 

After Bishop McCormack’s almost 15 years of close association with Catholic Charities, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros appointed him pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Malden-Medford, Massachusetts, where he served for four years.

 

In 1984, Cardinal Bernard Law appointed him Secretary for Ministerial Personnel in the Archdiocese of Boston’s administrative Cabinet to provide oversight and planning for the institutions and offices of the archdiocese that dealt with seminarians, priests, deacons, and religious and lay ministers. He was ordained a bishop and appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of Boston in 1995, and served Cardinal Law as regional bishop for the South Region of the Archdiocese.

 

Pope John Paul II appointed him the ninth Bishop of Manchester on July 21, 1998.

 

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