His Excellency, The Most Reverend

Carlos Arthur Sevilla

S.J.
Bishop Emeritus of Yakima
DioceseYakima
AppointedDecember 31, 1996
Installed1997
RetiredApril 12, 2011
PredecessorFrancis George
SuccessorJoseph J. Tyson
Orders
OrdinationJune 3, 1966
ConsecrationJanuary 25, 1989
by John R. Quinn, Mark Joseph Hurley, and Michael Joseph Kaniecki
Personal details
Born (1935-08-09) August 9, 1935
San Francisco, California
Previous post(s)
MottoTo love and to serve
Styles of
Carlos Arthur Sevilla
Reference style
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleBishop

Carlos Arthur Sevilla SJ (born August 9, 1935) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State from 1996 to 2011 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California from 1988 to 1996.

Biography

Early life

Carlos Sevilla was born on August 9, 1935, in San Francisco, California, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1953. He studied at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where he obtained his Master of Philosophy degree[1]

Priesthood

On June 3, 1966, Sevilla was ordained to the priesthood for the Society of Jesus in Rome by Archbishop John Quinn. Sevilla made his solemn profession to the Society of Jesus on April 22, 1974. Sevilla earned his Master of Theology degree from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, and attended the Jesuit College Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria, and the Catholic Institute of Paris.[1][2]

Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco

On December 6, 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed Sevilla as an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco and titular bishop of Mina. Sevilla received his episcopal consecration at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco on January 25, 1989, from Archbishop John Quinn, with Bishops Mark Hurley and Michael Kaniecki serving as co-consecrators.[1][2]

Bishop of Yakima

On December 31, 1996, John Paul II named Sevilla as the sixth bishop of Yakima. Sevilla was the second member of a religious order and the first Jesuit to hold that office.[1]

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Sevilla sat on the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Sub-Committee for Translation of Liturgical Texts into Spanish. He also co-chaired the West Coast Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims. Sevilla is the former chair of the Committee on Religious Life and Ministry and the Sub-Committee for Translation of Liturgical Texts Into Spanish.[2]

On April 1, 2008, Sevilla accepted blame for hiring Reverend Juan Gonzalez, a priest from Oregon, in 2003 to work as a retreat director for the diocese. Gonzalez was being investigated at that time by police in Marion County, Oregon, for viewing child pornography.[3] Sevilla knew about the investigation, but hired Gonzalez anyway. Police later notified Sevilla that they had filed charges against Gonzalez, but the diocese did not follow up on the report.[4]

In May 8, 2008, Sevilla admitted that he failed to notify parishioners in the diocese about Reverend Jose Joaquin Estrada Arango, who had been convicted in 2008 of fondling a 14-year-old girl in Oregon. Estrada had worked in four parishes in the diocese between 2001 and 2003.[5]

Retirement

On May 31, 2011, with the installation of Bishop Joseph J. Tyson as the new bishop of Yakima, Sevilla became bishop emeritus. He spent the next several years in Yakima, helping Tyson and working with local ministries.[1]

In 2014, Sevilla testified in a civil lawsuit against the diocese The plaintiff claimed to have been sexually assaulted in 1999 at age 17 by seminarian Aaron Ramirez at Resurrection Catholic Church in Zillah, Washington. The suit alleged that the diocese had been negligent in checking Ramirez's background when he applied to enter the priesthood.[6] Ramirez fled to Mexico after the incident, where he became an Anglican priest. Sevilla did not notify Ramirez's Anglican archbishop about the alleged crimes until 2005.[7]

In July 2016, Sevilla moved into the Jesuit community at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California. In July 2021, Sevilla entered Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, a retirement home for Catholic clergy in Los Gatos, California. Sevilla works as a spiritual director, arranges retreats and conferences and helps with weekend masses in local parishes.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Admin, M. M. J. "Bishop Emeritus Carlos A. Sevilla, S.J." Diocese of Yakima. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bishop Carlos Arthur Sevilla, S.J." Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  3. ↑ "Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Yakima admits hiring employee under investigation for viewing child porn online". NBC Right Now. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  4. ↑ "Bishop says hire was mistake | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  5. ↑ Salmon, Jacqueline L. (2008-05-11). "Vatican protecting bishops, activists say". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  6. ↑ Herald-Republic, By Donald W. Meyers Yakima. "Former Yakima bishop testifies at sex-abuse trial". Yakima Herald-Republic. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  7. ↑ "Church Punishes Priests but Protects Bishops, Critics Say". The Washington Post. 2008-05-10. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
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