Texas Knights of Columbus homepage
Finish Line 2020-2021 Texas Knight Read the latest issue Meeting Registration Register for upcoming meetings and events State Per Capita Dues Pay State Per Capita Dues Online Mid-Year Meeting Presentations (English) Donate Now Donate to State Council Charities Faith In Action Resources
Texas Knights of Columbus
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our History
    • Message from the State Deputy
    • Why Join the Knights of Columbus?
    • Administrative Assignments
    • State Officers
  • Star Guide
    • Membership
    • Star Councils Awards
    • Council Growth
    • Programs
    • Education, Training & Communications
    • Charities
    • Football Sweepstakes
    • Texas State Council Office
  • News
  • Blog
  • Events

Longtime Houston priest Italo Dell'Oro appointed as auxiliary bishop for 1.7M Texas Catholics

Posted May 19, 2021
by Mark Johnson

Share        

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Tuesday named an Italian-born Somascan priest as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

The pope appointed Somascan Fr. Italo Dell’Oro on May 18 to the post in the archdiocese that serves more than 1.7 million Catholics in 146 parishes across 10 counties in the State of Texas.

The 67-year-old bishop-elect was born in 1953 in Malgrate, northern Italy. Growing up in the town of Valmadrera, situated on Lake Como, he was a keen rock climber and mountaineer.

When he arrived in Texas in 1992 to serve as pastor of Assumption Church in Houston, he hoped to continue his high-altitude adventures, unaware of the local geography.

“When I came to Houston I started looking for mountains, excited to have found near Assumption Church the street named ‘W. Mount Houston,’” he told the Texas Catholic Herald in 2015.

“I followed it and found myself in the subdivision Hidden Valley. So I took up jogging, which I still try to do.”

Dell’Oro felt a calling to the priesthood at age 15, which he said “grew to an unbearable level” in his early 20s.

He grew up six miles from Somasca, where in the 16th century St. Jerome Emiliani founded the community that would become known as the Somascan Fathers. A friend who had joined the religious congregation dedicated to the service of the poor, orphans, and abandoned youth persuaded Dell’Oro to follow in his footsteps in 1976.

Bishop-elect Dell’Oro attended the Somascan Novitiate and Theologate in Rome, making his first profession in 1978 and his solemn profession in 1981. He was ordained to the priesthood in Como a year later.

He gained a baccalaureate in sacred theology from the University of St. Anselmo in Rome in 1982. He served as a priest assistant at Pine Haven Boys Center in Allenstown, New Hampshire, from 1985 to 1992, also earning a master’s degree in counseling and psychotherapy from Rivier University in Nashua.

After his 1992 move to Houston, the priest served at Assumption Church until 2000, when he became dean of the Northeast Deanery in Houston.

He was then vocations director at the Somascan Fathers House of Formation from 2001 to 2005 before serving as archdiocesan director of ministry to priests until 2015.

Bishop-elect Dell’Oro, who is fluent in English, Italian, and Spanish, was named vicar for clergy and secretariat director for clergy formation and chaplain services in 2015 and episcopal vicar for marriage affairs in 2016.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is led by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, 71, with the assistance of 75-year-old Auxiliary Bishop George Sheltz. The archdiocese, which dates back to 1847, covers 8,800 square miles, comprising the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, and Waller.

Bishop-elect Dell’Oro told the Texas Catholic Herald that his youthful interest in mountaineering and rock climbing had given way to hobbies such as reading novels by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Tom Clancy, listening to Bach, Beethoven, and Vivaldi, and watching movies, including the series of action thriller films featuring CIA assassin Jason Bourne.

 

Back to News

 

Recent Articles

  • IMG 5591 Convention 2022 - Posting of the Colors Posted Jun 15, 2022
  • Koc 2022 Run Pic 8512 Holds Race to Benefit St. Jude Posted Jun 08, 2022
  • 2022 St Michael School Bible presentation ps Weimar Knights of Columbus Recognize 8th Gra... Posted May 31, 2022
  • DSC9513 copy Convention 2022 Photos Available! Posted May 05, 2022
  • Strickland11111 Tyler Diocese Knights Recognized Posted Mar 31, 2022

Monthly Archive

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
Finish Line 2020-2021 Texas Knight Read the latest issue Meeting Registration Register for upcoming meetings and events State Per Capita Dues Pay State Per Capita Dues Online Mid-Year Meeting Presentations (English) Donate Now Donate to State Council Charities Faith In Action Resources

Subscribe to Email Updates

Want to be notified when news, blogs, events, and prayer requests are posted?

Something went wrong

Thanks for subscribing!

Texas Knights of Columbus Logo

TEXAS STATE COUNCIL OFFICE
6633 Highway 290 East, Suite 204
Austin, Texas 78723-1157
Phone (512) 442-1492
Fax (512) 326-1492

TKofC Facebook TKofC Twitter

Navigation

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Star Guide
  • News
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Downloads

Submissions

  • Submit a News Story
  • Submit an Announcement
  • Submit a Calendar Event
  • Submit a Prayer Request
  • Submit a Download

Flickr Photos

©2017-2022 Texas State Council. All content on this website is copyrighted and the sole property of Texas State Council and only can be used by the express permission of the Texas State Council. (512) 442-1492

  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our History
    • Message from the State Deputy
    • Why Join the Knights of Columbus?
    • Administrative Assignments
    • State Officers
  • Star Guide
    • Membership
      • Membership Recruitment
      • Membership Awards
      • Church Drive/Blitz
      • All Councils Active
      • Membership Retention
      • Ceremonials
      • Online Membership
      • “Father Wants You” Letter
    • Star Councils Awards
      • Awards
      • STAR COUNCIL AND LONE STAR AWARD CHECKLIST
      • Star Tracker and Goals
      • Submission of Forms
    • Council Growth
    • Programs
      • Faith
      • Faith In Action Resources
      • Family
      • Community
      • Life
      • Culture of Life
      • Other State Sponsored Activities
      • State Athletic Activities
      • State Awards – Due by March 1
    • Education, Training & Communications
      • Presentations & Social Media
      • Financial Secretary Trainers:
      • Texas Knight & tkofc.org
      • Awards
      • Form Submissions
      • Award Applications
    • Charities
      • Charity Fundraising Team
      • The Charity Pin
      • Bishop Thomas J. Flanagan Fund - Grants for Retired Priests
      • Cardinal Medeiros Fund
      • Special Olympics
      • Emergency Response
      • Educational Grants
      • Wheelchair Program
      • Charity Awards
      • Diocese receiving Charity Funds
    • Football Sweepstakes
    • Texas State Council Office
  • News
  • Blog
  • Events