Pope Names Florida Pastor Father Fernando Isern
As Bishop of Pueblo Diocese

Father Fernando Isern appeared October 15 at a news conference at the Archdiocese of Miami's Pastoral Center. He said he chose as his motto a phrase found in the second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 4: “Caritas Christi urget nos” (“The love of Christ compels us”). He said he did so because it was the episcopal motto of St. Antonio Maria Claret, archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, from 1851 to 1857. “His diocese was similar to mine. It is wide, it is large, it is beautiful, it has mountains. I plan to do the same thing he did. I plan to embrace my diocese with a missionary spirit,” Bishop-elect Isern said.

The Rev. Fernando Isern, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Southwest Miami-Dade, has been named bishop-elect of the Pueblo Diocese by Pope Benedict XVI. He will be ordained and installed in his new assignment on December 10, 2009, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pueblo.

Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora said, “As pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Father Isern administers one of the largest parishes in the archdiocese, a community quite diverse, a community whose spirituality and service are quite well known and admired.” Favalora said.

Father Isern, 51, was born in Havana and ordained a priest in 1993. He has been pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church since 2003. He also oversees Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School and Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School. Father Isern graduated from Florida International University in 1982. He was ordained a priest for the Miami Archdiocese in 1993. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida International University, Miami. He attended St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and St. Vincent de Pau Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. Father Isern will be the fourth bishop of the Pueblo diocese, which has 97,000 Catholics spread out across the entire southern half of Colorado, from the Utah border in the west to the Kansas border in the east.

Bishops are selected from a confidential list of three names submitted to the Pope for consideration. The three names are taken from a list created by U.S. bishops every three years.

Bishop Tafoya to Retire December 10—
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Tafoya effective December 10, 2009. Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Denver Diocese said October 15, “Bishop Arthur Tafoya has served the church in the Diocese of Pueblo in a distinguished way for many years, He will be greatly missed as a brother and leader as he begins a well-earned retirement. But he can take joy and confidence — as we do — in the character of the man who now takes up his duties.”