Bishop Cisneros was born in Cuba, on July 19, 1945. He obtained an Associate Arts Degree from St. Lawrence Minor Seminary, Mount Calvary, Wisconsin and a Bachelor's Degree in 1967 at Niagara University in New York, and a Masters in Divinity from the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington. On May 29, 1971, The Most Reverend Francis J. Mugavero, Bishop of Brooklyn, ordained him to the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
His priestly ministry was first exercised at St Michael's Church in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, where he stayed for eight years, until he became the Diocesan Coordinator for the Office of the Hispanic Apostolate. In 1987, he became the Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Corona until 1991, when The Most Reverend Thomas V. Daily, Bishop of Brooklyn, asked him to serve as Episcopal Vicar of Brooklyn East, a position he held until 1997, when the Bishop asked him to become Rector of Cathedral Seminary Residence.
In 1998, he received the honor of being a Prelate of His Holiness with the title of Monsignor, and in 2004, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn asked him, in addition to the above, to become Secretary of Priestly Formation. On June 6, 2006, His Holiness, Benedict XVI, appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, and at the same time, Titular Bishop of Eanach Duin, in Ireland. His Episcopal Ordination took place on August 22, 2006, by the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, PhD. D. D.
On May 15, 2009, he received a Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Niagara.
Bishop Cisneros's activities have included associations with the Northeast Catholic Center to Hispanics, the Instituto Nacional de Liturgia, the Board of Governors of Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, the Bishop's Committee on the Liturgy, the Pastors' Advisory Committee, and the Conference of Diocesan Director for the Spanish Apostolate, which he served as President. He also serves in the Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute Advisory Board of Seton Hall University.
Bishop Cisneros is also a member of The Bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, Committee on Divine Worship of the USCCB, and the chairman of the Subcommittee of Divine Worship in Spanish.
He was assigned to be part of the USCCB delegation in the Third Missionary Congress in Quito Ecuador in 2008, as well as being keynote speaker in several Universities such as Notre Dame, Indiana, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. John's University, Queens, New York.
He serves as vice-postulator of the Cause of Canonization of the Servant of God, Felix Varela, and he is a founding member of the Felix Varela Foundation and of the Our Lady of Charity of Cobre Foundation, whose goal is to promote the work of evangelization in Cuba, through devotion to Our Blessed Mother.
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