Education
Foreign his secondary education, he attended Saint Joseph Seraphic Minor Seminary in Callicoon, New New York He then studied at and graduated from Siena College in Loudonville, New New York
archbishop bishop Catholic priest
Foreign his secondary education, he attended Saint Joseph Seraphic Minor Seminary in Callicoon, New New York He then studied at and graduated from Siena College in Loudonville, New New York
Early life and education
He received his elementary education at Academia Santa Monica in Santurce, a district of San Juan. González earned the degree of Master of Sacred Theology at the Washington Theological Coalition (now Washington Theological Union) in Silver Spring, Maryland. He also holds a doctorate in Sociology from Fordham University.
He authored The Hispanic Catholic in the United States: a Socio-Cultural and Religious Profile.
He has received an honorary doctorate from the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Indiana. Priesthood
On May 8, 1977, González was ordained a priest, and, in 1982, he was assigned to serve at Saint Pius V Parish in the South Bronx, before going to Holy Cross Church, also in the Bronx.
In 1986, he was appointed pastor of that parish. He remained there until 1988, when he was named by the Holy See as an auxiliary bishop of Boston as an auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Bernard Francis Law.
González became popular with the Hispanic community of the region.
In 1995, González was appointed as coadjutor bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi, in which post he served until 1997, when he succeeded as bishop of the diocese. As in Boston, González Nieves was very popular with the Hispanic community living in Corpus Christi. Archbishop of San Juan
On March 26, 1999, González Nieves was appointed archbishop of San Juan by Pope John Paul World War II Other people who attended included the then mayor of San Juan and future Governor of Puerto Rico Sila Calderón, former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, as well as other Puerto Rican political figures.
The ceremony also marked the retirement of Cardinal Luis Aponte Martínez, who had been the Archbishop of San Juan since 1965.
Aponte Martínez observed that the ceremony marked the first time in history that a Puerto Rican archbishop had handed the see over to another Puerto Rican archbishop. Almost immediately, González Nieves raised his profile across the island.
As archbishop, he has articulated outspoken and often controversial views, particularly in defense of the Navy-Vieques protests and in his denunciation of homosexuality, among other things. He has proclaimed his pride in being Puerto Rican, asked the Government to work hard to preserve the national identity of Puerto Ricans, and criticized political corruption in Puerto Rico.
In 2009, there was speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might name Nieves as the Archbishop of New York to replace Cardinal Edward Egan.