{"id":99135,"date":"2026-05-07T14:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/?p=99135"},"modified":"2026-05-07T14:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:42:25","slug":"a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Anthony Richards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Diocese of St. Augustine honored Bishop Felipe Est\u00e9vez by hosting an 80th birthday celebration for him at San Jose Catholic Parish in Jacksonville on April 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishops, priests, deacons and lay people from across the diocese and the state took part in the festive occasion, as well as many members of his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami served as celebrant for the Mass held in memorial of the Feast of St. Pius V and Bishop Erik Pohlmeier offered the homily where he focused on Bishop Est\u00e9vez\u2019s constant striving to abandon himself into the Lord\u2019s hands and how that has guided him throughout his years and continues to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBishop Est\u00e9vez has been a great grace to all of us,\u201d Archbishop Wenski said. \u201cThis is a man of great spirituality, of prayer, and of great integrity, and one that we have been blessed to have in our presence for all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Deacon Peter Dang, one of the fruits of Est\u00e9vez\u2019s time in the Diocese of St. Augustine continues to be the number of seminarians currently in the diocese, which reflects his dedication to vocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Father Manuel Puga and Bishop Est\u00e9vez have maintained a close relationship over the years, who Puga regards as a mentor, and they talk to each other over phone nearly every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you for believing in the power of the seed, which is planting and tending to the word of God,\u201d Father Puga said. \u201cThank you for teaching us to always see the good side of things and the good side of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the aspects that he mentioned that made Bishop Est\u00e9vez connect deeply with people was his smile that Puga stated has brightened so many people\u2019s days over the years and mentioned that even his sister has the iconic \u201cEst\u00e9vez smile,\u201d so it must run in the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was not just his face, his soul is always smiling,\u201d Puga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another who views Bishop Est\u00e9vez as a mentor is Bishop William Wack of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee who could not attend the celebration but sent his congratulations via video message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be your brother in the episcopacy,\u201d Bishop Wack said. \u201cI learned a lot from you and thank you so much for mentoring me when I came here eight and a half years ago. I still have a lot to learn, and I would love to be a bishop like you one day.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd that filled the San Jose parish hall wrapped up the special night with the singing of happy birthday, both in English and Spanish as it reverberated through the hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter listening to all these presentations given out of love, I know that I am a very blessed man, having been chosen to be a priest, chosen to be a bishop,\u201d Bishop Est\u00e9vez said. \u201cIt is a great privilege to serve God\u2019s people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos by Fran Ruchalski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anthony Richards The Diocese of St. Augustine honored Bishop Felipe Est\u00e9vez by hosting an 80th birthday celebration for him at San Jose Catholic Parish in Jacksonville on April 30. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":99140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[1352,105,723],"class_list":["post-99135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diocesan-news","tag-80th-birthday","tag-bishop-felipe-estevez-2","tag-diocese-of-st-augustine"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg",2560,1703,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-1024x681.jpg",1024,681,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-2048x1363.jpg",2048,1363,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

By Anthony Richards The Diocese of St. Augustine honored Bishop Felipe Est\u00e9vez by hosting an 80th birthday celebration for him at San Jose Catholic Parish in Jacksonville on April 30. Bishops, priests, deacons and lay people from across the diocese and the state took part in the festive occasion, as well as many members of his family. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami served as celebrant for the Mass held in memorial of the Feast of St. Pius V and Bishop Erik Pohlmeier offered the homily where he focused on Bishop Est\u00e9vez\u2019s constant striving to abandon himself into…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Diocesan News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"arichards","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/author\/arichards\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Anthony Richards The Diocese of St. Augustine honored Bishop Felipe Est\u00e9vez by hosting an 80th birthday celebration for him at San Jose Catholic Parish in Jacksonville on April 30. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Diocese of St. Augustine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T18:42:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T18:42:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1703\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"arichards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"arichards\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T18:42:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-07T18:42:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ba0000c089822ea73bf4e7a0572c757c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1703,\"caption\":\"On April 30, 2026, the Diocese of St. Augustine celebrated the 80th birthday of Bishop Emeritus Felipe J. Est\u00e9vez at San Jose Catholic Church with a Mass in the church celebrated by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski and Bishop Erik T. Pohlmeier. More than 40 priests and deacons along with family, friends and members of the Diocese turned out to celebrate their former Bishop. A reception and dinner was held in the parish hall after the conclusion of the Mass. Picture made April 30, 2026. Fran Ruchalski\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/\",\"name\":\"Diocese of St. Augustine\",\"description\":\"One Faith, One Family\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ba0000c089822ea73bf4e7a0572c757c\",\"name\":\"arichards\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/author\/arichards\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine","og_description":"By Anthony Richards The Diocese of St. Augustine honored Bishop Felipe Est\u00e9vez by hosting an 80th birthday celebration for him at San Jose Catholic Parish in Jacksonville on April 30. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/","og_site_name":"Diocese of St. Augustine","article_published_time":"2026-05-07T18:42:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-07T18:42:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1703,"url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"arichards","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"arichards","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/","name":"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years - Diocese of St. Augustine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-07T18:42:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-07T18:42:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ba0000c089822ea73bf4e7a0572c757c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bishop-Estevez-birthday-14-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1703,"caption":"On April 30, 2026, the Diocese of St. Augustine celebrated the 80th birthday of Bishop Emeritus Felipe J. Est\u00e9vez at San Jose Catholic Church with a Mass in the church celebrated by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski and Bishop Erik T. Pohlmeier. More than 40 priests and deacons along with family, friends and members of the Diocese turned out to celebrate their former Bishop. A reception and dinner was held in the parish hall after the conclusion of the Mass. Picture made April 30, 2026. Fran Ruchalski"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/2026\/05\/07\/a-soul-always-smiling-bishop-estevez-celebrates-80-years\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cA Soul Always Smiling\u201d: Bishop Est\u00e9vez celebrates 80 Years"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/","name":"Diocese of St. Augustine","description":"One Faith, One Family","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ba0000c089822ea73bf4e7a0572c757c","name":"arichards","url":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/author\/arichards\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99154,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99135\/revisions\/99154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dosafl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}