By Leah Agonoy March 25, 2019
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur -- The local diocese
welcomes new Diocesan Bishop Ronald Lunas, who was installed Monday at the Sto.
Niño Cathedral here.
Lunas
assumed the leadership of 76-year-old Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar who has already
retired.
Metropolitan
Archbishop Martin Jumuad from the Ozamiz Diocese led the installation witnessed
by Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Italian Archbishop Gabriele Giordano
Caccia.
Lunas,
the fifth Catholic leader in the local diocese, told local reporters he was still
not comfortable being called bishop and still prefers to be called "Father
Bong".
Bishop
Cabajar said he was confident a new "shepherd" will be looking after
the local diocese.
"You
come here, you have seen the warm welcome from students along the way, that is
the feeling of the Diocese," Cabajar told the new bishop, adding that he
was confident the new leader could guide the faithful to "become better
people".
The
Interfaith Forum for Solidarity and Peace of this province, whose members
include the indigenous Subanens and Muslims, also witnessed the installation of
the new bishop.
The
group was headed by Cabajar as the lead convenor, who said he wanted to pass on
to the new bishop the leadership and advocacy on the harmony of the Muslims,
Christians, and Subanens.
Lunas
readily accepted the new role in the interfaith group, saying it has been the
Vatican's call for Catholics to engage in inter-religious dialogues.
Cabajar
who has served for almost 15 years in the city’s diocese, is set to go back to
his Redemptorist home in Cebu City.
The
installation of Lunas was witnessed by bishops, priests, deacons and other
Catholic leaders from as far as Palawan, Davao, Mati, Iligan, Zamboanga,
Dipolog, Ozamiz, Digos and Butuan.
Lunas
was ordained as bishop last February 11 in Digos City and was chosen to take a
position in the local diocese after Cabajar.
Lunas,
who was born on November 27, 1966, and raised in Bala, Magsaysay, was ordained
a priest for the Digos Diocese on April 7, 1992. He was assigned as parochial
vicar at the Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Caburan, also in Davao del
Sur.
Lunas
finished his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome and became the first Professor and then Dean of the St.
Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary and later assigned as Chancellor of
Digos.
He also
became parish priest of San Isidro de Labrador in Davao City in 2008 and since
2013, served as the Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Member of the College of
Consultors and of the Presbyteral Council.
Lunas
also served as the parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Sta. Cruz,
Davao del Sur. (PNA)
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