Bishop Daniel Flores
' ... it all seems to be such a privilege to assist in the work of grace ...'
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 8, 2006
Msgr. Daniel Flores was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit on Nov. 29. | Bishop Daniel E. Flores, the Archdiocese of Detroit's newest auxiliary bishop, brings experience as a pastor, seminary professor and diocesan official from his work as a priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Named to serve the Archdiocese of Detroit in his new position Oct. 29, Bishop Flores was ordained to the episcopate by Cardinal Adam Maida Nov. 29 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Detroit.
Bishop Flores says it "took my breath away" when he learned Pope Benedict XVI had selected him to serve the Church of Detroit as a new auxiliary bishop.
In coming to Detroit, Bishop Flores says he is leaving a position that has been one of his favorite assignments — rector of Corpus Christi Cathedral in his home diocese.
"I have really enjoyed being rector of the cathedral, just working the day-to-day pastoral care of the parish. In my farewell discourse I told the people of the parish that I have always been happy as a priest, but never happier than working here," he says of the position to which he was appointed by Corpus Christi Bishop Edmond Carmody in 2005.
"I expect God will make me even happier as time goes on, in the sense of enjoying the work He gives me, but I've really enjoyed being here at the cathedral. I like preaching, I like teaching, I like visiting the sick, I enjoy hearing confessions, because it all seems to be such a privilege to assist in the work of grace, which is how I see the priesthood," Bishop Flores continues.
Bishop Flores was ordained to the priesthood in January 1988 by Bishop Rene H. Gracida of Corpus Christi.
Early years as a priest
 Bp. Daniel Flores
Born: 1961, Palacios, Texas
Baptized: At Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Zapata, Texas
Home parish: St. Paul the Apostle, Flour Bluff, in Corpus Christi, Texas
Education: Local public schools and Flour Bluff High School, University of Texas at Austin, Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Ordained a priest: January 1988
Named monsignor: September 1995
Named auxiliary bishop: Oct. 28, 2006
Ordained a bishop: Nov. 29, 2006 | The young priest served the diocese as associate pastor of Corpus Christi Cathedral, secretary to the bishop, diocesan master of ceremonies, assistant chancellor, rector of the St. John Vianney House of Studies, and as its vocations director.
In September 1995, just seven years after his ordination, he was named a chaplain to His Holiness, one of the ranks of prelates with the title of monsignor.
It was in 1997 that Bishop Roberto Gonzalez, OFM, sent him to Rome to study at the Angelicum (the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas). Living during that time at the North American College house of studies there, he completed his doctoral degree in sacred theology in 2000.
That experience allowed him to delve further into the thought of St. Thomas, the 13th-century Dominican philosopher and theologian, who has been declared a Doctor of the Church and whose writings have remained one of the new bishop's strongest interests.
"As a student, even at the University of Texas (before entering seminary), I always had an interest in the intellectual life of the Church and the tradition of the Church, so I was an avid reader of the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure," Bishop Flores says.
It was an interest that expanded as he "learned about the whole breadth of the intellectual tradition of the Church — that's always been a great passion of mine."
"I've always had a great love for the clarity and lucidity of St. Thomas' thought – his kind of contemplative, meditative way of entering into the mystery of salvation. I didn't go on for further study in Rome until I was a priest for 10 years, but when I did go I had the great opportunity to study the theology of St. Thomas in much greater depth with the Dominicans at the Angelicum because the Angelicum is a Dominican school," Bishop Flores says.
Others reach out
He says there were a number of professors at the Angelicum who were very helpful to him as he wrote his doctoral dissertation on St. Thomas' commentary on the Psalms, but he singles out his dissertation director, the late Fr. Dalmazio Mongillo.
"He was a very profound and spiritual man, and had such a penetration of the mysteries. He had a great sense of what St. Thomas saw when he was speaking about Christ and about the mystery of grace," Bishop Flores says.
Regarding his dissertation, he says: "I was interested in how he read Scripture and how he taught it, and how it was part of what his whole vocation was about. Because he was, after all, a Dominican, and the principal mission of the Dominicans was and is the preaching of the Gospel. So, they were studious for the sake of entering into the
Scriptures as deeply as possible, and that's what I focused on when I was writing the dissertation."
The future bishop's advanced degree prepared him for the work he would eventually be assigned to in helping form and educate new priests for the Church.
Church ministry
Upon returning to Corpus Christi, he was first appointed chancellor of the diocese by Bishop Carmody. But a year later the bishop assigned him to serve on the formation faculty of St. Mary's Seminary and the teaching faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
He taught courses in patristics, medieval and Thomistic theology, and modern Catholic literature. In June 2002 he was named vice–rector of St. Mary's Seminary.
Teaching seminarians and other work in support of vocations have also been work from which Bishop Flores says he has derived much satisfaction.
"The bishops have put me in various positions, but kind of a common thread of my priesthood from early on has been support of vocations. I was vocations director for a while, and we had a house of studies where I worked with seminarians. It's a great joy to encourage vocations by working with them in formation or education. I've always found seminarians, for the most part, to have a strong love for the Church and a desire to be well–prepared."
And he notes that Cardinal Maida has said he would like him to teach at Sacred Heart Major Seminary: "We're working on plans to have me start teaching there in January."
Bishop Flores has strong ideas on Hispanic ministry and working with Hispanic youth (see related story), but also on what he thinks important for strengthening the Church among people of all ethnicities.
Encouraging others
"I enjoy reading, and I think that one of the important things we can do in the Church, especially for the next generation, is to encourage a getting to know the mind and heart of the Church in the deepest sense," he says.
"And I really do want to emphasize how important I think it is for us to have an appreciation for the big picture of God's grace coming into the world, and how that should direct all of our individual activities and keep us moving in the same direction. I hope to be an instrument of communion and an instrument for teaching the Gospel, and encouraging people in that great mystery of the Word and the Spirit that defines who the Church is," Bishop Flores continues.
"Somebody asked me once what the Church is, and I said, well, the Church is about what God does, and we are instruments in what God does. That's a great privilege. To be able to serve is a gift that God gives us, and I want to invite as many people as I can to enter into that experience of giving themselves for the sake of Christ and of His Church, and to experience the joy that comes from that mission."
His early years
Bishop Flores says he grew up in south Texas in a loving family, in which both the Catholic faith and the strong family values of Hispanic culture were ever present. was born in 1961 in Palacios, Texas, to Fernando Javier and Lydia (Dilley) Flores, and he grew up in the Flour Bluff area of Corpus Christi, Texas. It was a mark of his parents' continuing connection with their home town of Zapata, Texas, on the U.S-Mexico border, that they had him baptized there. He received first Communion and confirmation at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Flour Bluff.
Looking back at his life, Bishop Flores says his family had the most influence on him in his early years.
The bishop recalls a family life in which the values of honoring parents and staying connected to one's relatives were modeled by his mother and his late father.
"I have two brothers and a sister, and my mother is still living. I have lots of cousins and lots of uncles and aunts. One of the marks of our family was that we always stayed close, even with my extended family," he says.
And, he continues, "We were taught respect in the family, and great affection and unity, and the importance of making an effort to stay in communication and visit as often as we could."
Growing up with one grandmother living with his family and the frequent visits to Zapata, Texas to visit his paternal grandparents strengthened his sense of his Hispanic heritage, Bishop Flores says.
Bishop Flores remains in frequent contact with his mother. "As a rule, I call my mother every day, just to say 'Hello, how are you, are you feeling OK?' So, we stay in communication. She's in good health, and we've stayed very close." Of his late father, who passed away in 1984, Bishop Flores says he had a "heart of gold" and was an important model of Christian leadership. And his father's example has influenced his view of leadership in his priestly ministry: "Part of what an authority figure needs to do, whether a father or a priest, I think, is to help people understand what the good looks like and how we seek it. And that takes time, you have to talk to people."
Aspirations and inspirations
Please note:
• Bishop Daniel Flores’ ordination will air on CTND (Catholic Television Network of Detroit) Sunday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m.; Monday, Dec. 11 at 9 a.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.; and Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 4 p.m.
• An edition of “Dialogue” with Cardinal Adam Maida will air on CTND: today, Dec 8 at 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.; Monday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m.; Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 15 at 9:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. | Of his call to the priesthood, Bishop Flores recalls that his boyhood aspiration was to become a lawyer), but his thinking was to change during his high school years.
Although his hopes to go into law were encouraged by family and teachers, and helped motivate him to study hard, it was the example of his parish priest that began to cause a reevaluation.
"Around the time I was 16, I was influenced by the pastor of the parish where I was growing up in Flour Bluff, Fr. Mark Chamberlin," Bishop Flores recalls.
"He was newly appointed about the time I was going to high school, and he made a strong impression on me. He was very dedicated to the good of the parish; he was an excellent preacher – he still is, he's one of the best preachers I've ever heard – and gave a sense of the importance of the priestly ministry to the life of the Church and in people's lives."
As the young student began to think more seriously about his future, "I kind of went through a period in high school where the notion of going to college and then going to law school was less attractive than the notion of something more along the lines of a priestly vocation."
As he recalls that time, he says "it just kind of came into my mind; no one really suggested it to me until I started talking to some people."
Bishop Flores says another priest "who was particularly influential on me" was Msgr. Robert Freeman, who was head addition to other duties.
Among others who inspired him and encouraged his sense of a priestly vocation were a number of religious sisters, especially the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament Sisters, who have their motherhouse in Corpus Christi and were active at his parish. He mentions in particular one of the IWBS sisters, Sr. Damian Ordner. "She was a strong influence just by seeing her dedication," he says.
By the time he graduated from Flour Bluff High School, he had pretty well made up his mind that he would "go into seminary and give it a shot and see if I could do what was required."
"I decided I really wouldn't be as happy as a lawyer as I would as a priest. It seemed to me the priesthood was –in a word I used for it back in high school – 'more ultimate' in my life. As I saw it, I didn't really want to go find a job or a career, I wanted a life, and the priesthood seemed to be a life you could throw yourself into. I really wanted something you could give yourself to, and that was what attracted me most to the priesthood – it was something you could give your whole being to."
Nevertheless, his first step after high school was to enroll in the University of Texas in Austin, but he began studying philosophy there, "because I was fairly sure I was going to enter the seminary at some point --and I did." After two years at the University of Texas, he entered Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas, and spent the next six years there before his ordination.
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