1. Joseph Anthony Fiorenza was an American prelate of the Catholic Church.
19 Facts About Joseph Fiorenza
2.
Joseph Fiorenza was the seventh bishop and the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas, serving from 1985 to 2006.
3.
Joseph Fiorenza previously served as bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo in Texas from 1979 to 1984.
4.
Joseph Fiorenza was born in Beaumont, Texas, the second of four sons of Anthony and Grace Fiorenza.
5.
Joseph Fiorenza's father immigrated from Sicily at age 10, while his mother was the daughter of Sicilian immigrants.
6.
Joseph Fiorenza attended St Anthony High School in Beaumont, where he was football team captain and senior class president.
7.
Joseph Fiorenza then studied at St Mary's Seminary in La Porte, Texas.
8.
Joseph Fiorenza was ordained to the priesthood on May 29,1954.
9.
Joseph Fiorenza served as administrator of Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Houston from 1959 to 1967.
10.
In 1965, Joseph Fiorenza participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement.
11.
Joseph Fiorenza was named honorary prelate of his holiness by Pope Paul VI on December 5,1973, and served as diocesan chancellor from 1973 to 1979.
12.
On September 4,1979, Joseph Fiorenza was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo by Pope John Paul II.
13.
Joseph Fiorenza received his episcopal consecration on October 25,1979, from Archbishop Patrick Flores, with Bishops John Morkovsky and John E McCarthy serving as co-consecrators, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Angelo.
14.
On December 18,1984, Joseph Fiorenza was named bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston by Pope John Paul II.
15.
Joseph Fiorenza was installed by Archbishop Patrick Flores in the presence of Archbishop Pio Laghi, the apostolic pro-nuncio.
16.
The Diocese of Galveston-Houston was elevated to the level of archdiocese by John Paul II on Dec 29,2004, at which point Joseph Fiorenza became an archbishop.
17.
On June 11,2001, Joseph Fiorenza expressed his regret at the execution of Timothy McVeigh, a domestic terrorist convicted of killing 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
18.
Joseph Fiorenza submitted his letter of retirement as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to Pope Benedict XVI in February 2006 at the mandatory retirement age of 75.
19.
Joseph Fiorenza met with the girl's family at the time of the initial accusation and promised to remove La Rosa-Lopez from the parish and send him for treatment.