Bishop of Paracatu
Jorge Alves Bezerra, S.S.S., is Bishop of Paracatu, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was born on 23 April 1955 in São João de Meriti, in the Diocese of Duque de Caxias, in the State of Rio de Janeiro. He studied Philosophy at the Instituto São Bento and at the Universidade Estadual do Ceará, and Theology at the Instituto Teológico São Paulo. He obtained specialization in Moral Theology at the Higher Institute of Moral Theology (Alphonsianum) in Rome and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Belo Horizonte and, subsequently, a licentiate in Civil Law at the University of Fortaleza. He made solemn profession in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on 5 January 1982 and was ordained a priest on 10 August 1985 in São Bernardo do Campo. He held the offices of parish priest of São Benedito (1986-1996) and episcopal vicar in the Archdiocese of Fortaleza; parochial vicar of the Cathedral of Boa Viagem, in the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte; professor of Moral Theology in São José Major Seminary, in the Archdiocese of Uberaba; and parish priest of Nossa Senhora das Dores in Alfenas, in the Diocese of Guaxupé. Within the Sacramentine Congregation he was provincial secretary, master of novices for Latin America, vice-provincial, and master of novices at the novitiate located in the Diocese of Sete Lagoas. On 21 May 2008 he was appointed Bishop of Jardim and on the following 10 August he received episcopal ordination.