San Antonio — From a very young age, José Arturo Cepeda knew what his vocation in life would be.
“I was probably six or seven years old when I first said I wanted to be a priest,” he said shortly before being introduced as Detroit’s newest auxiliary bishop.
A big part of fostering that vocation, he said, came from his family. Living in a traditional Mexican family, the members were very close – and the family celebrated their faith together, truly living out holy days and liturgical seasons in the home, Bishop Cepeda says.
The new bishop’s family, though, is happy to share more of the story.
“When we were little kids, he didn’t want to play sports with us outside or play with cars or trucks — he wanted to play the Mass. He would make an altar out of boxes and have the Bible and make us sit like we were at Mass,” says his younger sister Ana Bojorquez. “Most of the time me and my older brother did not want to play this and told him we have to go to church on Sunday we don’t want to play this during the week. But he loved it and did so even without us there. It was like he was born with his vocation.”
Born in San Luis Potosi, S.L.P. Mexico on May 15, 1969, Bishop Cepeda is the second oldest of four children to José Cepeda and Maria del Socorro Escobedo. Along with his oldest brother Raul, sister Bojorquez and youngest brother Israel, his family moved from Mexico to San Antonio Texas when he was 19 years old.
During his childhood, Bishop Cepeda says, he had many “angels” who helped him discern and follow his vocation. Before there were his spiritual directors in the seminary, there were people like his great-grandmother Tomasa Tobar, who lived with the family and who Bishop Cepeda called “a lady of great wisdom and profound spirituality.”
“She was the one to take me to Mass every day and listen to me and encourage me to be a priest every day as I was growing up,” he says.
He remembers a family very close with its parish. The family home was two blocks from the church, and his parents knew the pastor, Fr. Pablo Ortega, well.
The Cepeda family has always been close and very devoted to their Catholic faith – and Bishop Cepeda was very passionate about spreading that faith as a priest, his siblings say.
“My brother went into the seminary when he was just 12 years old; he made the decision himself. My mother was hesitant to let him go since he was so young, but he was very strong in his decision,” Bojorquez says. “When we moved to San Antonio the first thing he did was look for a seminary to continue working toward becoming a priest. My mother told him he could always come home but he didn’t; he loved being in the seminary.”
Bishop Cepeda told his family as a whole about his new assignment, and while they were thrilled to hear his news, they also had mixed feelings of elation and sadness.
“The best way I can describe it is that it is bittersweet. We are so proud of him but it will be hard to be away from him,” Bojorquez says. “We will just keep praying for him as we always do and pray that maybe he’ll be brought back to San Antonio someday — hopefully soon!”
To his family, Bishop Cepeda is affectionately called “Pepe,” a Spanish nickname for José, and to his sister he is sometimes “Pepito.”
Bishop Cepeda also is close to his four nieces and one nephew.
“My oldest daughter, Lorena, is sad that her tío (uncle) is leaving but she’s getting better,” Bojorquez says. “It is such a blessing for our family.”
Bishop Cepeda’s younger brother Israel says his brother always makes time for him. Though their ages are separated by 11 years, he said he will miss their time together — especially talking about a shared passion — art.
“We both love art and visiting museums anytime we can,” Israel says. “My brother knows everything about art — he can talk about it for hours. You can put a painting in front of him and he can tell you the artist and the history of the painting.”
“Something most people don’t know is that he is also an artist; a very good one. I have an oil painting he did many years ago of a sunset scene by the water; it is really good. He gave it to the family but somehow I ended up with it — no one knows that — until now of course,” Israel says, laughing.
His siblings were happy to share more about their brother – even the fact of him being a Star Wars fan.
“When he was little he dressed up as Darth Vader for Halloween,” Bojorquez says. “He has all the movies and can watch them over and over if he as the time. He even has the theme music as a ring tone. We love to tease him about it.”
Although his family is going to miss him, it is especially difficult for Bojorquez who had the privilege of working with her brother as his administrative assistant.
“He needed help around the office so I offered to come in and help him get things organized. He mentioned he needed to hire someone so I jokingly told him to hire me. Two days later he asked if I really wanted the job. I asked him why it took him two days and he said he wanted to talk to Archbishop (José) Gomez about it to make sure it would be OK,” she says.
Maintaining professionalism, the two worked side-by-side, and for some time people were unaware that they were siblings.
“At work he was ‘Fr. Arturo’ — but at home he was Pepito. I am happy for the time we got to work together; I learned so much from him,” she recalls tearfully.
The family has never been to Detroit but anticipates many trips in their future.
“He is still my brother and I love him to death and will go anywhere to spend time with him. He has taught me so much but I still have so much to learn from him,” she adds
“Believe it or not, I’ve already been checking on flights and have found some good deals; looks like we will be taking our vacations in Detroit,” she says. “We know he will be busy — but we’ll still go; we’ll just show up.”
— Joe Kohn contributed to this report.
