AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Bishop of Oudtshoorn resigns, successor appointed

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Pope Benedict XVI, on May 28, 2010, accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Oudtshoorn (South Africa), presented by Bishop Edward Robert Adams, in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father has appointed as Bishop of Oudtshoorn (South Africa), Fr. Francisco Fortunato De Gouveia, of the clergy of Cape Town, Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Fish Hoek.
Fr. Francisco Fortunato De Gouveia, was born on June 11, 1951 in Cape Town, of Portuguese parents. He is a South African citizen. He studied at St. Agnes Primary Primary, Woodstock (1957-1965), and secondary school with the Marist Brothers at St. Joseph (1966-1967). In 1969, he entered the National Seminary of St. John Vianney (affiliated to the Pontifical Urban University), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts. He attended a course on Broadcasting in Dublin in 1983 and subsequently studied Spirituality and Pastoral Theology at Loyola University in Chicago, USA (1990-1992). He received his priestly ordination on January 11, 1976 in St. Agnes Church, Woodstock, Archdiocese of Cape Town. He served in the following ministries: 1976-1981: Assistant Pastor at St. Paul Parish, Somerset West, and St. Nicholas, Stellenbosh, 1981-1986: Pastor of the Parish of St. Paul, Somerset West, 1986-1990: Pastor of Saint Matthew, in Bonteheuwel, 1990-1992: Studies in Spirituality and Pastoral Theology of Loyola University in Chicago, USA, 1992-1997: Rector of St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary in Cape Town, 1997-2004: Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, to Durbanville, 2004-2007: Pastor of St. Theresa, in Camps' Bay, 2007-2009: Administrator of the Cathedral, since 2009: Pastor of St. John the Evangelist, in Fish Hoek.
The Diocese of Oudtshoorn (1951), suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cape Town, has an area of 113,000 sq.km. and a population of 850,000 inhabitants, of which 30,000 are Catholics. It has 14 parishes, 30 priests (23 diocesan and 7 religious), 3 religious, 4 permanent deacons, and 29 nuns. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 28/05/2010)