Pope Leo XVI accepts San Antonio auxiliary bishop’s resignation
Pope Leo XVI accepted the resignation of Michael Boulette, Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio, Tuesday, who had submitted his resignation upon turning 75.
Pope Leo XVI has accepted the resignation of Michael Boulette as auxiliary bishop of San Antonio, Apostolic Nuncio to the US Cardinal Christophe Pierre announced Sept. 9 in Washington, DC, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Bishop Boulette had submitted his resignation upon turning 75, as canon law requires. The pope decides whether to accept the resignation.
“It has been a profound privilege to have officially served the Church since the age of 14, when I entered high school seminary,” Bishop Boulette wrote in his resignation letter, according to the San Antonio Express News. “God’s abundant grace has been poured out without measure. Serving Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller as a pastor and then auxiliary bishop has been a tremendous honor.”
Ordained to the episcopate in 2017, Bishop Boulette is perhaps best known for his emphasis on the importance of spiritual direction. After his Sept. 30 retirement, Bishop Boulette will return to ministry at St. Peter Upon the Water Center for Spiritual Direction and Formation, which he founded in 2004, according to the San Antonio Express News. The center provides spiritual direction and retreats, and it also offers a formation program for those wishing to become spiritual directors.
As an auxiliary bishop, he spoke regularly at retreats and parish missions.
“Bishop Boulette has a spirituality of joy and simplicity,” Gustavo García-Siller, archbishop of San Antonio, wrote in a statement about Bishop Boulette’s retirement, according to the San Antonio Express News. “He is a man with a marvelous pastoral heart for the needs of people and for the church.”
News of Bishop Boulette’s resignation comes about two weeks after CatholicVote reported that Bishop Jose Cepeda will begin serving as the new auxiliary bishop of San Antonio.
Around 1.16 million Catholics are part of the diocese, according to the San Antonio Express News.
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