Most Reverend Arturo Cepeda Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit

“The New Evangelization impels us to continue joyfully responding to the Spirit that never ceases to stimulate our communities to a deep conversion. Our call to celebrate the Gospel and to proclaim it to all our communities is at the very core of the creative ministry of the FIP. With years of Hispanic experience the Federation will continue to respond to the challenges of today’s world and will continue to serve by offering excellent faith, academic, and ministerial formation to our communities and beyond.”

-Bishop Arturo Cepeda

FIP is a non-profit organization of volunteers totally committed to leadership formation of our pastoral agents at the service of the Latino/Hispanic catholic communities in the US. Your help and support is very important to us. A big THANK YOU for your kind and generous donation to us!

“A sign of vitality in ministry to our Hispanic communities is the ever growing numbers of laity in need of learning and deepening their knowledge of one’s faith, a crystal-clear sign for us to continue offering sound and quality services throughout every ministry within the Church. This ever present need is the reason why and how many new educational services have been brought to life in every region of the country. The challenges are indeed varied and many for anybody to deal with them in isolated ways. That is why FIP [Federation of Pastoral Institutes] came into being. FIP‘s mission is to offer excellent faith formation services to our Hispanic communities en route to God.”

-Bishop Felipe J. Estevez

Most Reverend Arturo Cepeda Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit

Most Reverend Arturo Cepeda Bishop Jose Arturo Cepeda Escobedo, STL, STD, 42, was born in San Luis Potosi, S.L.P., Mexico on May 15, 1969, to Jose Cepeda and Maria del Socorro Escobedo. He received his elementary and high school education in Catholic schools in San Luis Potosi under the direction of Hermanas and Hermanos Josefinos.

Bishop Cepeda then completed a year of spiritual formation, followed by philosophy studies at Seminario Arquidiocesano Guadalupano Josefino in San Luis Potosi. After moving with his family to San Antonio, Texas, Bishop Cepeda continued his seminary studies at Our Lady of the Lake University, later earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies with a minor in psychology from the College Seminary of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Returning to San Antonio's Assumption Seminary, Bishop Cepeda received a Masters of Divinity degree and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Patricio Flores on June 1, 1996, at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas.

After earning a Master of Arts degree in Biblical theology from St. Mary's University in San Antonio while assigned as parochial vicar of San Antonio's San Fernando Cathedral, Bishop Cepeda was asked to study at St. Thomas Aquinas "Angelicum," Pontifical University in Rome, where he was awarded a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) and Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) degrees, defending his dissertation in Spiritual Theology in 2005.

Since his return to San Antonio, he has fulfilled teaching and formation duties at Assumption Seminary and Oblate School of Theology, has served as Vocation Director and Faculty Member for the Transitional Ministry Formation Program for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, and has been a member of the Formation Faculty of St. Peter upon the Water: A Center for Spiritual Direction and Formation for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Bishop Cepeda was made Vice Rector of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio in 2009. In 2010, he was installed as the seminary's Rector, where he served until his designation as Titular Bishop of Tagase and Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit in 2011. He is also the Vicar for the Youth and Hispanic Ministries in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

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