WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Curtis J. Guillory of Beaumont, Texas, and named as his successor Msgr. David L. Toups, president and rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach, Florida.
Bishop Guillory, 76, was appointed to head the Beaumont Diocese in 2000 by St. John Paul II, two years after the pope named him as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
A native of Seattle, Bishop-designate Toups, 49, is a priest of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, and has been seminary president and rector in Boyton Beach since 2012.
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States, announced the changes June 9 in Washington.
Bishop Guillory, one of 10 African American Catholic bishops, is the first African American bishop to head a diocese in Texas.
In February 2019, Catholic Extension honored him with its third annual Spirit of Francis Award for his “faith, hope, vision, great compassion and love,” his leadership, and his commitment to the Catholic Church and the diverse faith community of southeast Texas.
Bishop-designate Toups served at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington from 2007 to 2010 as associate director of the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.
Born March 26, 1971, in Seattle, he attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland before entering St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. He was ordained to the priesthood June 14, 1997, for the St. Petersburg Diocese, and his first a parish assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Francis Cabrini Parish in Spring Hill, Florida.
Then-Father Toups went to Rome to attend the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He earned a bachelor of sacred theology and licentiate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and in 2004 earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, which commonly is called the Angelicum.
He has been assistant dean of students (2004) and dean of students (2004-2006) at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary. He also has served on the seminary’s administrative council, faculty council and seminary formation team, and also has been a professor of sacramental and liturgical theology there.
Before he was named to his seminary post as rector and president, he was pastor of Christ the King Parish in Tampa, Florida, for two years.
Bishop-designate Toups has served on the national board of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils (1997-2001), and as observer for Region IV to the USCCB’s November meetings in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He is fluent in English and Spanish and has familiarity with Italian.
