Curtis John Guillory, S.V.D. was the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, from on 2000 to 2020. He was the first non-canonist to hold this position. He has done advanced work in Christian spirituality and Jungian psychology. He was previously Auxiliary Bishop of Galveston-Houston from 1988 to 2000.
Early years
Curtis John Guillory was born to Wilfred and Theresa Guillory on September 1, 1943, in Mallet, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. He is the oldest of 17 children ; all but five are still living. His father's side of the family has been traced back to France. His mother's side of the family has been traced to the island of Saint-Domingue ; in the Caribbean. His family goes back to the early years of Mobile, Alabama. Pointe Guillory and Guillory Pass are named for his ancestors. He is a descendant of Louisiana free people of color. His father owned a small farm and worked another one. Curtis and his siblings helped in picking cotton, shucking corn, and feeding the animals. During the school year, he would get up early to work the farm before school, and came home right after to work until dark. Guillory entered the Society of Divine Word's St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where he played on the seminary baseball team. The Society of Divine Word, founded as a missionary community in Holland, was one of the first to accept African-Americans as seminarians. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from the Divine Word College at Epworth, Iowa, in 1968, and later earned a Master of Divinity degree at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He received priestly ordination at his home parish of St. Ann in Mallet on December 16, 1972, from Carlos Lewis, Auxiliary Bishop of Panama, also a member of the Divine Word Community. Guillory earned a master's degree in Christian spirituality from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986. He did one summer workshop in Jungian psychology in Switzerland. His first assignment was to St. Augustine Parish in New Orleans. Guillory served three years as an associate and six years as pastor. He was the founding director of the Tolton House of Studies in New Orleans, the seminary residence of the Divine Word students. In addition, he served during these years as a member of the executive committee of National Black Catholic Administrators, the Louisiana One Church/One Family adoption program, national chaplain to the Knights of Peter Claver, archdiocesan presbyteral council, and board member of the Spirituality Center. He was the coordinator of the visit of Pope John Paul II in New Orleans. Bishop Guillory was selected chair of the Committee of African American Catholics. He also served on the national committee on Hispanic Affairs and Priestly Life and Ministry, and the boards of Sacred Heart Seminary and Xavier University. His civic services include the board of the YMCA, the Mental Health Association, and the Harris County Hospital District. His hobbies are reading, exercising, and traveling. He was the only bishop to carry the Olympic torch in 1996 when it traveled across the country.
