Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa - 1996

Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa was born in Oxnard, California, in 1943, the second child to Angel and Mary Ochoa. He received his education at Santa Clara Elementary and Santa Clara High School, also in Oxnard, and graduated in 1961. In 1962 he entered St. John’s Seminary College and having graduated, continued his studies at St. John’s Seminary School of Theology. Bishop Ochoa was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 23, 1970, by Cardinal Timothy Manning. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Alphonsus Church in East Los Angeles; St. John the Baptist Church in Baldwin Park; and St. Teresa of Avila Church, Los Angeles. Bishop Ochoa was appointed Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Los Angeles, in December, 1984. While an Associate Pastor at St. Teresa of Avila, he was named a Monsignor, Chaplain to His Holiness, in 1982. Prior to his Ordination to the Episcopacy, in February, 1987, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Regional Bishop of the San Fernando Pastoral Region, he served as a board member and later as co-director of the Permanent Diaconate Program for the Archdiocese. He also headed the Secretariat for Ethnic Ministry Services. Bishop Ochoa also served as a board member for both Don Bosco Technical High School and St. John’s Seminary. On June 26, 1996, Bishop Ochoa was installed as fifth Bishop of the Diocese of El Paso in Texas. Bishop Ochoa was installed as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Fresno on February 1, 2012. Throughout Bishop Ochoa’s Episcopacy, he has held the following USCCB positions: Member of the Sub-Committee on Lay Ministry, Committee on Migration, Sub-Committee on Hispanic Affairs, Committee on Laity, Committee on Vocations, Committee on the Diaconate, Committee on the Millennium/Jubilee Year, Sub-Committee on Lay Ecclesial Ministry, CLINIC Board of Directors and Region XIII Administrative Committee. Bishop Ochoa has also been a Consultant on the Committee on Migration and Sub-Committee on Hispanic Affairs. Other National and International responsibilities have included member of the Alta/Baja California Border Bishops Council, United States Delegate to the Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, and member of the Texas Mexico Border Bishops’ Council.