Richard John Garcia (April 24, 1947 – July 11, 2018) was an American prelate of the

Roman 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 ...

. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Monterey in California from 2007 until his death in 2018. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the

Diocese of Sacramento The Diocese of Sacramento () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archd ...

in California from 1998 to 2007.

Biography

Early life

Garcia was born in San Francisco on April 24, 1947, to immigrant parents from Mexico. He completed his studies for the priesthood at Saint Joseph College in Mountain View and at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California. Garcia was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood on June 15, 1973, for the

Archdiocese of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco (Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Arquidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the Unit ...

at Sacred Heart Parish in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

. For seven years, he served as an associate pastor and coordinator of the Hispanic apostolate. From 1980 to 1984, he studied theology at the

Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the ''Angelicum'' or ''Collegio Angelico'' (in honor of its patron, the ''Doctor Angelicus'' Thomas Aquinas), is a pontifical university located in the historic center of R ...

in Rome. When the Diocese of San Jose in California was erected in 1981, Garcia was incardinated, or transferred, to the new diocese. He taught at Saint Joseph Minor Seminary in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Most of the city's growth ...

, and at Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California. By 1997, Garcia was serving as the pastor of

Saint Leo the Great Parish Saint Leo the Great Church is a Roman Catholic church in the St. Leo's neighborhood of San Jose, California. Founded in 1923, it is a territorial parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California and named for Pope Leo I, a Doctor o ...

in San Jose, California and as the diocesan director for

vocations A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity. A calling, in the reli ...

Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

named Garcia

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Bapara and auxiliary bishop of the

on November 25, 1997''Bishop Richard John Garcia''

Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that are in full communion with Rome. The website, not officially sanctioned by the Church, is run as a private pro ...

; url accessed December 21, 2006 He was consecrated on January 28, 1998, at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento; Bishop

William Weigand William Keith Weigand (born May 23, 1937) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento in California from 1993 to 2008. Weigand previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Salt L ...

served as his principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

, with Archbishop John R. Quinn and Bishop

Pierre DuMaine Roland Pierre DuMaine (August 2, 1931 – June 13, 2019) was an American Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of San José in California from 1981 to 1999. He also served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Franci ...

as his principal co-consecrators. In

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, Garcia served as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

and moderator of the

curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

, vicar for

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, episcopal vicar for the

Hispanic American Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to the ...

population, and vicar for

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and vocations.

Bishop of Monterey in California

On December 19, 2006, Pope Benedict VI named Garcia as bishop of the Diocese of Monterey. He was installed on January 30, 2007. In 2009, the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...

elected Garcia as a member of the

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) where he sat on the board. Garcia was also a member of Migration and Refugee Services, Subcommittee on Hispanics Affairs and the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. In April 2018, Garcia was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. García died on July 11, 2018, from complications of the disease at age 71.

References

External links

Diocese of Monterey official website''Bishop of Monterey''

''United States Conference of Catholic Bishops''

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Richard John 1947 births 2018 deaths Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in California Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Clergy from San Francisco 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni American people of Mexican descent Catholics from California