Pope accepts resignations of two U.S. auxiliary bishops

Published: 2004-09-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignations of Auxiliary Bishops Francis X. Roque, 75, and Joseph J. Madera, 76, of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement Sept. 15 in Washington. Bishop Roque, who was an Army chaplain in Vietnam, Korea and Europe for 21 years before his appointment to the military archdiocese in 1983, was born Oct. 9, 1928, in Providence, R.I. He attended St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Mass., and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Providence in 1953. At the military archdiocese, he had been the vicar of veterans affairs, supporting the work of 230 Catholic chaplains in the 172 hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Bishop Madera, a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, was bishop of Fresno, Calif., from 1980 until his appointment to the military archdiocese in 1991. He served in Germany as vicar general for military bases in Europe and the Mediterranean in 1993-95. Born Nov. 27, 1927, in San Francisco, Joseph J. Madera was raised in Mexico. He studied for the priesthood at the Holy Spirit Missionaries' House of Studies in Coyoacan, Mexico, and was ordained in 1957 to parish work in Mexico. He served in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for 15 years; he spent much of his time there on youth ministry.

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