WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Curtis J. Guillory, SVD, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Beaumont and has named Monsignor David L. Toups, a priest of the Diocese of Saint Petersburg as Bishop-elect of Beaumont.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on June 9, 2020 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Toups, 49, currently serves as rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach, Florida.

In 1993, he moved on to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he gained a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Toups was ordained to the priesthood June 14, 1997, for the Diocese of St. Petersburg and appointed parochial vicar of St. Frances X. Cabrini Parish in Spring Hill, Florida. He then studied for a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), writing his thesis on “The Sacerdotal Character as the Foundation of the Priestly Life: The Contribution of Blessed Columba Marmion.”

From 2004 to 2006, he was professor of sacramental and liturgical theology, as well as dean of students, at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

In 2007, he was released from diocesan assignment to serve as associate director of the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

In 2010, he returned to St. Petersburg diocese, where he was pastor of Christ the King Parish in Tampa for two years before being named president and rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

Guillory, a member of the Society of the Divine Word, became the fifth bishop of Beaumont on July 28, 2000. He was the first member of a religious order to lead the diocese and the first African American ordinary in Texas, according to a biography on the diocese’s website.

He was born on September 1, 1943, in Mallet, Louisiana, the oldest of 16 children belonging to Wilfred Guillory, a sharecropper, and his wife, Theresa. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1972.

In 1988, Guillory was named an auxiliary bishop in the then Diocese of Galveston-Houston, choosing the episcopal motto “For those who love God, all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).

He led the diocese through its recovery from three major storms: Rita, Ike, and Harvey. He also promoted youth ministry, Hispanic ministry, stewardship formation and evangelization, according to his official biography.

The Diocese of Beaumont covers 7,878 square miles in Southeast Texas, with a total population of 643,798 of which 68,597 are Catholic, according to a June 9 press release from the USCCB.