A voice for the 'marginalized:' Austin Catholics get new bishop

The newly appointed bishop to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin promised to lead with unity and to speak up for the “overlooked and the marginalized," including unauthorized immigrants, in his introduction to his new flock.

"That's where the church needs to be to make sure that people do not forget those who are often forgotten," said Daniel E. Garcia, whose appointment by Pope Leo XIV as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Austin was announced Wednesday morning.

Garcia, 64, a native of Central Texas, will lead the diocese where he was first ordained in 1988 and where he rose to be an auxiliary bishop. He left in 2019 to become the bishop of Monterey in Central California. But the bishop’s eventual homecoming was so anticipated, the seminarians joked to themselves after his speech, that Garcia’s portrait already hangs front and center in the diocese offices from his first Austin stint.

Garcia said he was grateful to return home. His role, he said, would allow him to encourage people in their spiritual journey and to stand up for the church’s teachings, including the benevolent treatment of the vulnerable, like immigrants who lack authorization to be in the country.

“There’s got to be a better way,” Garcia said of recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on immigrants. ”I think those are the kind of things that we as a church should elevate and to say there's something wrong with this picture.”

He said that fostering change would require building relationships with political leaders — a tricky question of balancing church teachings and peoples’ political opinions.

“You can disagree on policy,” Garcia said. “But the church’s role is to let people know that we are all created in the likeness of God.”

Shelley Metcalf, a diocese employee who worked with Garcia during his original stint in Austin, said she believes Garcia’s “great character” and humility will help him build bridges with political and community leaders to advocate for the marginalized.

“I think when we have leaders with humility it shows people we don’t have to be boisterous, we don’t have to be loud, we have to be people of faith,” Metcalf said.

Garcia grew up in Waco and Cameron, north of Austin, and attended college and seminary in Houston before becoming ordained as a priest at the age of 27, according to an online biography. He is bilingual in Spanish and English.

During his three decades as a priest in Austin, Garcia served at St. Catherine of Siena, Cristo Rey, and St. Louis King of France parishes. He was the founding pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Northwest Austin in 1995, where he oversaw the development and construction of the church's facilities.

David Ochoa, a 69-year-old deacon who worked with Garcia to start St. Vincent de Paul, said he remembers Garcia as "a people person."

Working with Garcia, “people felt empowered,” Ochoa said.

Now, Ochoa said, he hopes Garcia’s charisma can help the church with outreach, especially to motivate its lay members to stay involved.

The Diocese of Austin covers more than two dozen counties in Central Texas spanning from the Hill Country east to College Station and from Lockhart north to Waco. It's home to 123 parishes and missions and more than 700,000 Catholics, the diocese said.

The diocese’s last bishop, Joe Vasquez, left Austin after 15 years to become the archbishop of Houston and Galveston. He was installed in March.

Garcia will be officially installed as bishop in a mass in September.