Pope Leo XIV Appoints Father Simon Peter Engurait as Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has appointed Reverend Simon Peter Engurait, a priest of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and current diocesan administrator, as the Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on June 5, 2025, by Monsignor Većeslav Tumir, chargé d’ affaires, a.i., of the Apostolic Nunciature, in the temporary absence of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Engurait was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Father Engurait was born on August 28, 1971, in Ngora, Uganda. He attended St. Peter’s College in Tororo, Uganda, and studied at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received a bachelor’s degree at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (1995), a master of divinity from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana (2013) and a master of business administration at Maastricht School of Management in The Netherlands (1999). He was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 2013.

Father Engurait’s assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Houma (2013-2015), Saint Genevieve parish in Thibodaux (2015-2016), and Christ the Redeemer parish in Thibodaux (2016-2017). He has served as pastor of Saint Bridget parish in Schriever since 2017. 

Bishop-elect Engurait has also served as the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s vicar general (2017-2024), and as moderator of the curia since 2016. He has served as the Diocesan Administrator since 2024. He speaks English, Ateso, Kishwahili, and Spanish.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is comprised of 3,500 square miles in the State of Louisiana, and has a total population of 257,548, of which 75,761, are Catholic. 

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