Bishop of Blumenau
Bishop Rafael Biernaski, Bishop of Blumenau, was born on November 1, 1955, in Campo Comprido, a district of Curitiba, in the Archdiocese of Curitiba and in the Brazilian state of Paraná. He entered the São José archdiocesan minor seminary in 1968 and was a student of the Rainha dos Apóstolos major seminary from 1975 to 1981, studying philosophy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná and theology at the Studium Theologicum Claretianum in Curitiba. He was ordained a priest on December 13, 1981, in the mother church of Santa Teresinha do Menino Jesus in Curitiba, and was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Curitiba. He attended a course for seminary formators in Mexico in 1986, and as a student of the Pontifical Brazilian College in Rome he obtained a licentiate in theology in 1990 and a doctorate in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2007. In the Archdiocese of Curitiba he served as vice-coordinator of liturgy in 1982 and as professor and spiritual director of the São José seminary from 1982 to 1988, and he received the title of monsignor on November 12, 1999. He is a member of the Union of Schoenstatt Priests of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement. From 1995 to 2010 he was an official of the Congregation for Bishops. On February 10, 2010, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Curitiba and Titular Bishop of Ruspae. He received episcopal ordination on April 15, 2010, at Curitiba, with Geraldo Majella Agnelo as principal consecrator and Moacyr José Vitti and Pedro Antônio Marchetti Fedalto as co-consecrators. He was secretary of the Sul 2 region of the Brazilian bishops' conference from 2011 to 2015. On July 1, 2014, following the death of Archbishop Moacyr José Vitti, he was elected Administrator of Curitiba by the college of consultors, and he held that office until March 19, 2015. On June 24, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Blumenau, and he was installed on August 29, 2015, in the cathedral of São Paulo Apóstolo. His episcopal motto is EVANGELIZARE MISIT ME, "He sent me to evangelize."