In February 2016, Steven Joseph Lopes was ordained as the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
His appointment, by Pope Francis, followed a decade of service at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. During that period, he also served as an Instructor of Homiletics at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
Bishop Lopes, a California native, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of San Francisco (1997). He earned a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (2005).
His ordination to the episcopacy took place at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 2, 2016 (Candlemas).
In his brief address, Bishop Lopes explains why he chose "Magna Opera Domini" ("Great are the works of the Lord") as his episcopal motto.
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A related Catholic News Service report is at https://www.ncronline.org/new-bishop-ordained-houston-based-ordinariate-former-anglicans