UPDATED: Bishop Mario Dorsonville of H-T Diocese dies at age 63

Less than a year after his appointment to lead the Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Bishop Mario Dorsonville died Friday, the diocese announced in a Facebook post. Dorsonville was 63.
Dorsonville died at 6:50 p.m. Friday from complications related to liver disease, according to the diocese. He passed away at Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner.
“My heart is broken as I make this news to you as this is not the kind of message any one of us would expect to receive,” wrote the Rev. Simon Peter Engurait, the diocese’s vicar general, in a Facebook post. “I am aware that you will have a lot of questions on your mind.
“I ask that you be patient with us as we begin to navigate through these uncertain moments. In the meantime, I ask that you keep him in your prayers.”
Dorsonville had been hospitalized late last year but felt well enough to attend a retreat for the state’s bishop earlier this month.
Dorsonville was named by Pope Francis on Feb. 1 to become bishop for the diocese, which extends westward into eastern St. Mary Parish. Dorsonville assumed the post March 29.
He succeeded Bishop Shelton Fabre, who had been appointed archbishop of Louisville, Kentucky.
A few weeks less than a year elapsed between Fabre’s appointment to the Louisville Archdiocese in 2022 and Dorsonville’s appointment to the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese.
The lengthy process for naming a new bishop will involve consultations extending from Louisiana all the way to the Vatican.
A College of Consultors on Monday selected Engurait to be diocese administrator until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop.
Dorsonville was born, educated and ordained in Colombia.
He came to the United States to study at the Catholic University of America in Washington.
Dorsonville served the Archdiocese of Washington as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bethesda, Maryland, and St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland.
After being named auxiliary bishop of Washington in 2015, he served as vicar general for the Archdiocese of Washington until his appointment to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.