IGLESIA CATÓLICA ROMANA ANTIGUA
DE NORTEAMÉRICA
- Sede Primada de Nova-Terra -
La Jurisdicción Original de la Iglesia Católica Romana Antigua en las Américas
1914
Fundada en Jerusalen en 33 A.D.; Organizada Utrecht in 696 A.D.; Establecida en Gran Bretania en 1908 A.D.; Establecida en Las Americas en 1914 A.D.
Raphael Villareal Falquez is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church and pastor to its dioceses, chapels, oratories, missions and religious communities throughout the world. His See is in Houston, Texas.
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Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and raised with three siblings in Kansas City, Kansas, Archbishop Villareal attended St. Patrick’s Grade School, and after his family moved to Florida, St. Jude Cathedral School and Bishop Barry/St. Petersburg Catholic High School. He received a Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) degree from Trinity Theological University in Fairfield, CA in 1990, a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Perkins School of Theology, SMU in Dallas, TX in 1995, and a Doctor of Canonical Jurisprudence (J.C.D.) in 2011 from the Georgian Athenaeum Orientale for Canon Law in Toledo, Spain.
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He was ordained to the priesthood by Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez, Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil on 7 May, 1991, and as his motto adopted: Beati Pauperes, meaning "Blessed are the Poor." He served as curate, parish pastor, adjunct professor, and Canon Missioner for the ICAB in the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA), and the ACNA, providing valid Roman Catholic sacraments for the poor immigrant populations of those two bodies.
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He was appointed Primatial Chancellor in October, 2021, also serving as Archbishop Edward J. Ford's Primatial Vicar. He was designated Bishop of Texas in April, 2024, and in a Special General Synod for the Election of a Primate, upon the death of the Most Reverend Edward James Ford, Eighth Metropolitan Archbishop, was elected unanimously on 19 October, 2024 and now serves as the Ninth Metropolitan Archbishop of the NAORCC.