Anthony Cerdan Celino (born April 29, 1972) is a Filipino-born priest of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who has been serving as

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

for the Diocese of El Paso in Texas since 2023.

Biography

Early life

Anthony Celino was born on April 29, 1972, in

Anda, Pangasinan Anda, officially the Municipality of Anda (Bolinao: Babali nin Anda; ; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. Once a part of the municipality of Bolinao, the town consists of a group of islands on the northwest portio ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, the youngest of seven children born to Teodolo Celino and Mines Cerdan Celino. Teodoro Celino died when Anthony Celino was four years old. After beginning to serve mass as a child, he visited a seminary on a school outing. Having enjoyed the experience, he decided to enter the high school at Mary, Help of Christians Seminary in

Dagupan City Dagupan , officially the City of Dagupan (, , ), is a 2nd class Cities in the Philippines, independent component city in the Ilocos Region, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 174,302 people. Located on Lingayen Gul ...

. Celino graduated from Mary, Help of Christians college seminary in 1993. At the invitation of bishop Raymundo Peña of El Paso, Celino immigrated to the United States. He later moved to

Mundelein, Illinois Mundelein is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States and a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 31,560, making this the fourth largest town in Lake County. The village straddles ...

, to begin theological studies at the

University of Saint Mary of the Lake The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and school of theology for the formation of priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois. USML was ...

. Celino graduated in 1997 with

Bachelor of Sacred Theology The Bachelor of Sacred Theology (abbreviated STB) is the first of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the second being the Licentiate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theology) which are conferred by a number o ...

and

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

degrees.

Priesthood

On June 6, 1997, Celino was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Armando Ochoa at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso. The diocese assigned Celino as

parochial vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

at St. Patrick Cathedral Parish. The diocese sent Celino to Washington D.C. in 2001 to study

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

(CUA). He graduated from the CUA School of Canon Law in 2003 with a

Licentiate of Canon Law Licentiate of Canon Law (; JCL) is the title of an advanced graduate degree with canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church offered by pontifical universities and ecclesiastical faculties of canon law. Licentiate is the title of a person who ...

. After returning to Texas in 2004, Celino was appointed administrator (and later pastor) of Santa Lucia Parish in El Paso and

judicial vicar In the Roman Catholic Church, a judicial vicar or episcopal official () is an officer of the diocese who has ordinary power to judge cases in the diocesan ecclesiastical court. Although the diocesan bishop can reserve certain cases to himself, ...

for the diocese. He later served as

moderator of the curia Moderator of the curia is a top administrative position held by a Catholic priest in a diocese under the supervision of the bishop. The moderator coordinates the exercise of the administrative duties and oversees the office holders, or curia, in ...

, vicar general and chancellor. In 2017, Celino was named pastor of St. Raphael parish in El Paso.

Auxiliary Bishop of El Paso

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed Celino auxiliary bishop of

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

on February 8, 2023. On March 31, 2023, Celino was consecrated as a bishop at St. Patrick Cathedral with Bishop Mark J. Seitz acting as principal consecrator. Archbishop

Gustavo García-Siller Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S. (born December 21, 1956) is a Mexican-American prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio in Texas since 2010. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the ...

and Bishop John Stowe were the co-consecrators.

References

External links