Gilberto Fernandez

Gilberto Fernández ( born February 13, 1935 in Havana, † 30 September 2011 in Miami) was a native of Cuba, American clergyman and Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Miami.

Life

Gilberto Fernández came from a family of eight children, with four priests and a nun were the three sisters of the five boys. He received on 17 May 1959 Cuban Havana by Manuel Cardinal Arteaga y Betancourt ordained a priest and was incardinated in the Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana. He served in four parishes, last administrator at the Catedral de San Cristóbal. With the Cuban Revolution, the situation for the Catholic Church worsened. In particular priests were persecuted and imprisoned, as well Fernández. In July 1967, he fled to Miami in Florida and was incardinated there in the clergy of the Archdiocese of Miami. He initially supervised Mexican immigrants in South Florida. 1978/79 he was pastor of Sacred Heart in Homestead and the 1979 /88 Sts. Peter and Paul in Miami. 1988/89 he was an administrator in San Pablo in Marathon in the Florida Keys. 1989/96 he was pastor of St. Kevin in Miami. He was spiritual director of the St. John Vianney Seminary in the Southwest 87th Avenue in Miami in 1996.

Pope John Paul II appointed him on 23 June 1997 as Titular Bishop of Hirina and appointed him auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Miami. He received his episcopal consecration of the Archbishop of Miami, John Clement Favalora, on 3 September 1997; Co-consecrators were Edward Anthony McCarthy, Archbishop Emeritus of Miami, and Agustín Román, auxiliary bishop in Miami. His episcopal motto was "amor ultima ratio " ( Love is the highest reason).

On 10 December 2002, Pope John Paul II accepted his health conditional resignation.