Robert Milner Coerver

Robert Milner Coerver (born June 6, 1954) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop for the Diocese of Lubbock in Texas since 2016.

Biography

Early life Robert Coerver was born on June 6, 1954, in Dallas, Texas. He earned a Licentiate in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He also received a Master of Counseling and Guidance degree from Texas A & M University–Commerce in Commerce, Texas.

Priesthood On June 27, 1980, Coerver was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Ambrose Tschoepe for the Diocese of Dallas at the Templo Expiatorio del Santísimo Sacramento in Guadalajara, Mexico.

On January 21, 2019, Coerver released a list of clerics with credible accusations of sexual abuse. One name on that list was that of Jesus Guerrero, a retired deacon who had been accused in 1997 and 2007 of having an inappropriate relationship with an adult female parishioner alleged to have mental problems. Guerrero sued the diocese in March 2019 for defamation, saying that he had never been accused of sexual abuse with a minor. When the state court refused to dismiss the case, the diocese appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dismissed Guerrero's lawsuit in June 2021, citing the First Amendment rights under the US Constitution of churches to manage their own affairs.