San Diego Bishop Has Advanced Cancer

By Susan Shroder
U-T San Diego
September 3, 2014

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/sep/03/san-diego-bishop-flores-diagnosed-advanced-cancer/

Bishop Cirilo Flores, when he was named the new head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego in September 2013.

Bishop Cirilo Flores, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, has been diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer, the diocese said Wednesday.

The disease, which is in his bones, is “widespread, very advanced and very aggressive,” Monsignor Steven Callahan said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, Bishop Flores is not a candidate for chemotherapy because of his very weak condition and the advanced stage of the disease,” the statement said.

Flores, 66, has been hospitalized at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for prostate cancer, while still suffering some effects from a stroke he suffered in April, the diocese said last week.

He will be brought Thursday from Los Angeles to Nazareth House in San Diego for palliative care, the diocese said.

Nazareth House, operated by the Sisters of Nazareth, is a care and retirement facility in Mission Valley overlooking Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala.

On April 16, Flores was transported to a hospital after suffering a stroke in his office at the diocesan Pastoral Center in Clairemont. Doctors advised at the time that he would not be able to return to work for at least a month.

In September 2013, Flores became the fifth bishop of the San Diego diocese. He succeeded Bishop Robert Brom, who retired. Brom had led the diocese since 1990.

Brom and Callahan visited the bishop last week at the hospital in Los Angeles. “He was in good spirits and grateful for the assurance of prayers,” the diocese said.

The San Diego diocese has 98 parishes in San Diego and Imperial counties, which together serve nearly 1 million Catholics.

Flores, a native of Corona, earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola Marymount University and a law degree from Stanford Law School. He worked as a teacher and an attorney before being ordained as a priest in Orange County in 1991. He rose to become an auxiliary bishop in Orange County.

“While priests, deacons, religious and laity may wish to reach out to Bishop Flores during this difficult time, it is in his best interest and better for his care and well-being that we not try to contact Bishop Flores by phone nor attempt to visit him,” the diocese said.

“Let us continue to keep Bishop Flores in our prayers,” the statement said.