|
Monsignor Jacinto Jose appointed new bishop of Urdaneta
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Monsignor Jacinto Agcaoili Jose as the Bishop of Urdaneta Diocese. Until now he has been the Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Laoag.
Monsignor Jose will be 55 years old on October 20, this year. He was born in Laoag; entered the Minor Seminary in Vigan at the age of 12; finished his training for the priesthood at the University of Santo Tomas, where he earned a Master's degree in Theology; and was ordained in Rome, at the age of 24, by His Holiness Pope Paul VI.
He specialized in Canon Law at the University of the Angelicum in Rome, from 1983 to 1985. He spent 16 years as professor, prefect of discipline and Rector of the seminaries in Vigan and in Laoag. Since 1992 he has been serving as parish priest in Burgos and in Santa Monica, Laoag.
Bishop Jesus C. Galang, the former Bishop of Urdaneta, died on September 16, 2004. The Diocese has had no Bishop for the last year.
Monsignor Jacinto Jose has been serving as the Administrator of the Diocese of Laoag since February 12 of this year, when Bishop Ernesto Salgado was transferred from the Bishopric of Laoag to become the Archbishop of Vigan. At this moment the Diocese of Laoag is without a Bishop or an Administrator.
The news was published in the Vatican at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 21. It was released simultaneously in Manila by the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Antonio Franco. It was released to the media by the National Office of Mass Media.
The appointment has three strong points according to Fr. James Reuter, SJ, executive secretary of the National Office of Mass Media for anyone who is interested in the priesthood of the Philippines; first, Jacinto Jose started his training for the priesthood in the Minor Seminary, at the age of 12. By and large, most of the priests in our modern world began in Minor Seminaries. Second, he had sixteen years of experience in training priests—as professor and superior in Minor and Major Seminaries, as well as thirteen years in the work of a parish priest and last Urdaneta is Ilocano. Monsignor Jose is Ilocano. More and more, the Church is inclined to place the new Bishop among the kind of people he has known since he was born. (Mark Tallara)
|
