The auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C., Rev. Mario E. Dorsonville, was installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux on Wednesday morning, ending a vacancy that had existed for 11 months.

Rev. Mario E. Dorsonville, 5th Bishop of Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

Dorsonville was born in Colombia to parents of French and Spanish descent. He later studied seminary in Bogotá, Colombia, and was ordained a priest there in 1985. 

After holding a number of positions in his home country, he attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and earned a doctorate in ministry in 1996.

According to The Advocate, beginning in 2005, he served as director of the Spanish Catholic Center and vice president of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

On March 20, 2015, he was named by Pope Francis as an auxiliary bishop in the District of Columbia. He took on the role of archdiocese vicar general that year and has been in it ever since.

Since then, he has taken on many responsibilities, including leading the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services Committee as its chair. 

Among the committees he serves on are the ones concerned with domestic justice and human development, migration, religious freedom, and the fight against racism.

On March 29, the new bishop will take up his position and begin performing his duties. He takes the place of the previous bishop, Shelton Joseph Fabre, who moved on to become the archbishop of Louisville in March 2022.

The report also stated that the comments that Dorsonville made were humorous and focused on how he viewed his new home from the perspective of his own unique history.

However, he will be confronted with significant obstacles in his new post. In recent years, named hurricanes, notably Hurricane Ida, have caused significant damage to the diocese. 

Other issues, such as the pandemic and the economic downturns tied to the oil and gas business, contributed to the exacerbation of the problems caused by the disaster.

In the future, Dorsonville will serve as the bishop of a diocese that is comprised of more than 20 diocesan offices, 38 church parishes, and 11 Catholic schools.

About Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

With a total Catholic population of 667,000, the District of Columbia and five counties in Maryland that surround it makeup what is known as the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. These counties are St. Mary's, Charles, Calvert, Prince George's, and Montgomery.

According to its website, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is connected to three different Catholic universities, including The Catholic University of America, Trinity Washington University, and Georgetown University. 

Additionally, it provides $5.6 million in annual tuition support to students attending Catholic schools and the more than 235,000 men, women, and children who are assisted by Catholic Charities each year.

Aside from that, annually, it is MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington and the Holy Cross Hospitals in Silver Spring and Germantown donate a combined total of several millions of dollars to charitable causes.