David Arias Pérez

Who is David Arias Pérez?

David Arias Pérez, O.A.R., is a Spanish-born Recollect friar in the United States. He was appointed as Roman Catholic titular bishop of Badiae and served as an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey.

Born in Mataluenga, part of the municipality of Las Omañas, in the Province of Leon, Spain, Arias entered the Order of Augustinian Recollects in 1946. He began his seminary studies in 1948 in Monachil and was ordained a priest in Barcelona on 31 May 1952. He was then assigned to teach Natural Sciences briefly in a local school, before beginning advanced studies in theology at the Teresianum Institute in Rome, where he received a Diploma in 1964.

He was sent by the Order to serve in their houses in North America, first in Mexico City, then in Kansas City, Missouri. He taught theology at the seminary of the Order there. On 25 January 1983, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Newark, for which he was ordained on the following 7 April. He was entrusted with the pastoral care of the growing Hispanic population of the region, representing their interests at various situations on the national level. Arias retired from this office on 21 May 2004.