Son of Mexican immigrants ordained as youngest U.S. Catholic bishop

[AlphaCentauri]

Father Oscar Cantu, a 41-year-old Houston native whose Mexican-immigrant parents once lived in Chicago, was ordained this week as the nation's youngest Roman Catholic bishop at St. Mark's the Evangelist Catholic Church in San Antonio, Tex. As an auxiliary bishop who is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian and French, he will help fill the need for Hispanic leadership in a U.S. Catholic church that is at least 39% Hispanic and is growing more so through immigration.

The fifth of eight children, Cantu attended a Catholic elementary school and a Catholic high school. Although his father had only a sixth grade education, the family valued education and sacrificed to make it available for the children. At the time of his appointment as bishop, he was the pastor at Houston's Holy Name Parish, his childhood parish. That is where, according to his biography, "his parents became close friends with a young priest, Father Patrick Flores, who went on to become the Archbishop of San Antonio."

Before his ordination, Cantu described himself as "a moderate conservative" - moderate on social issues, conservative on doctrinal issues, according to the Associated Press.

"Above all, I call myself Catholic," he said. "I believe what the Catholic Church teaches."