Carlos Arthur Sevilla

Carlos Sevilla was born in San Francisco, California, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1953. He studied at Gonzaga University, where he obtained his Master's degree in Philosophy.[1]

On June 3, 1966, Sevilla was ordained to the priesthood, making his solemn profession on April 22, 1974. He also earned his Master's in Theology from Santa Clara University and attended the Jesuit College Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria, and the Catholic Institute of Paris.[1]

On December 6, 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed Sevilla Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco and Titular Bishop of Mina. Sevilla received episcopal consecration on January 25, 1989 from Archbishop John Quinn, with Bishops Mark Hurley and Michael Kaniecki, SJ, serving as co-consecrators.[1]

On December 31, 1996, Sevilla was named the sixth Bishop of Yakima, Washington, . Sevilla is the second religious and the first Jesuit to hold that office.[1]

Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sevilla sat on the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Sub-Committee for Translation of Liturgical Texts into Spanish, as well as co-chairing the West Coast Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims. Sevilla is the former Chairman of the Committee on Religious Life and Ministry and the Sub-Committee for Translation of Liturgical Texts Into Spanish.[2]

On May 31, 2011, with the installation of Joseph J. Tyson as the new bishop of Yakima, Sevilla became Bishop Emeritus.  He spent the next several years in Yakima, helping Tyson and working with local ministries.[1]

In July 2016, Sevilla moved into the Jesuit community at Bellarmine Preparatory School in San Jose, California. In July 2021, Sevilla entered Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, a retirement home for Catholic clergy in Los Gatos. Sevilla works as a spiritual director, arranges retreats and conferences and helps with weekend Masses in local parishes.[1]

On April 1, 2008 Sevilla accepted blame for hiring Juan Gonzalez in 2003 to work as a retreat director for the diocese. Gonzalez was being investigated by police in Marion County, Oregon at that time for viewing child pornography.[3] Sevilla knew about the investigation, but hired Gonzalez anyway. Police later notified Sevilla that charges had been filed against Gonzalez, but there was no follow-up by the diocese.[4]

In May 8, 2008, Sevilla admitted that he had not notified members of the diocese about Jose Joaquin Estrada Arango, a priest convicted earlier that year of fondling a 14 year old girl in Oregon. Estrada had worked in four parishes in the diocese of Yakima between 2001 and 2003. [5]

In 2014, Sevilla testified in a civil lawsuit against the diocese. It was brought by a man who had been sexually assaulted in 1999 at age 17 by seminarian Aaron Ramirez at Resurrection Catholic Church in Zillah, Washington. The suit alleged that the diocese had been negligent in checking Ramirez's background when he applied to enter the priesthood.[6] Ramirez fled to Mexico after the incident, where he became an Anglican priest. Sevilla did not notify the Mexican archbishop about Ramirez's alleged crimes until 2005.[7]

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima Official Site
• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Diocese of Yakima
• Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
• West Coast Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims