Joseph Espaillat

Joseph Armando Espaillat II (born December 27, 1976) is a Dominican American Catholic prelate serving as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York since 2022.

Biography

Early life Joseph Armando Espaillat II was born on December 27, 1976, in New York City, the son of José and Mercedes Baez. His parents had immigrated to Manhattan from the Dominican Republic; the USCCB's African-American secretariat has described him as being of partial African descent. Espaillat attended high school at Cathedral Preparatory School in Manhattan. He later entered Fordham University in New York City, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1998.

Priesthood On May 17, 2003, Espaillat was ordained to the priesthood at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan by Cardinal Edward Egan for the Archdiocese of New York.

After his ordination, the archdiocese assigned Espaillat as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Martyrs Parish in Washington Heights in Manhattan. That same year, he was awarded a Master of Divinity degree in theology and a Master of Arts degree in theology, with an emphasis on church history, from St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

In 2007, Espaillat was moved from Our Lady to become parochial vicar, then administrator of St. Peter's Parish in Yonkers; he was named pastor there in 2009. In 2012, Cardinal Timothy Dolan appointed Espaillat as director of youth ministry for the archdiocese. In 2015, Espaillat was named pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Parish in the Bronx, New York.

Auxiliary Bishop of New York Pope Francis appointed Espaillat as an auxiliary bishop of New York on January 25, 2022.