The Rt. Rev. Francisco Reus-Froylán, Bishop of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1986, died Nov. 19 of pneumonia. He was 89.
Bishop Reus-Froylán was elected Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Puerto Rico by General Convention in 1964 and consecrated bishop coadjutor Nov. 30 of that year. He was the first Puerto Rican native to be consecrated a bishop of The Episcopal Church. In 1979, General Convention made Puerto Rico an extra-provincial diocese with the expectation that it would found a Caribbean province with other dioceses such as Cuba and Haiti. When that did not happen, the diocese was welcomed into full union with General Convention in 2003.
The son of a priest, Bishop Reus-Froylán was born in Santurce. He studied at the University of Puerto Rico, and the Dubois Church Training School in Tennessee, then continued his education at Philadelphia Divinity School and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Caribbean. In 1942, he was ordained a deacon and became curate at St. John’s Cathedral, Santurce.
Bishop Reus-Froylán served a number of congregations in Puerto Rico before rejoining the cathedral staff in 1959, when he became rector of the Spanish-speaking congregation and the director of the Episcopal Cathedral School. Three years later he was called as rector of the English-speaking congregation as well. He served on many diocesan boards and commissions, including the bishop’s council of advice, executive council, diocesan school board, board of examining chaplains and ecclesiastical court. He was chairman of the department of diocesan affairs and the commission on ecumenical relations. He was also active in youth ministry and edited Credo, the diocese’s monthly newspaper.
In retirement, Bishop Reus-Froylán and his wife, Doreen, lived in Vermont. She and his three daughters, Pamela, Sandra and Carolyn, survive him.


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I owe the revival of my "Worker Priest" status to Bishop Francisco Reus-Froylán ("Paco"). After I was deposed in N. Y., I moved to Puerto Rico. I was a year or two younger than "Paco". I asked him to observe my work to see if someday, he might want me as a "Worker Priest in his Diocese. As a grant's writer for Federal Funds, I eventually had contracts with the P. R. Governor, San Juan Mayor, plus the two Virgin Island Governor's. Also, millions of $ were Federally funded to Churches, Convents, Private schools, Salvation Army, Family Planning, and Scouts. The San Juan Star daily newspaper printed many articles about my work in La Perla, supposedly the worst slum in P. R. Finally, with my two daughters as students along with his daughters at the University, he asked the N. Y. Bishop to reinstate me. I served him as Federal funds writer for the P. R./Caribbean Seminary, Vicar of San Esteban (St. Stephen), Guaynabo, and Director of the Diocesan Center at Barrio Saint Just, Trujillo Alto, near where he resided. I am so thankful to three Bishops, Washburn, Reus, and Filadelfo of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who have been "Reverend Father in God " to me. I am Fr. Dingle, finally fully retired for health reasons in West Palm Beach, Fl. from my recent volunteer work as OSL Chaplain with Dr. Mittermayer's Lupus Patients in Santa Izabel Hospital, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. I welcome email at fatherdingle@gmail.com