CITY OF CALAPAN, Oriental Mindoro – The third bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, appointed by Pope Francis in December last year, was canonically installed over the weekend.
Archbishop Charles John Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, led the installation rites for Bishop Pablito Tagura, SVD, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker in San Jose on Saturday.
“Now, I’m being honored, served, and respected not according to my merit but all is God’s will. Let us thank, glorify Him, the Good Shepherd. He must increase, I must decrease,” the 61-year-old Tagura, a native of Abra province, said at the start of his homily during the live-streamed rites.
He thanked Bishop William Antonio for his sacrifices as apostolic administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose while also serving as bishop of the Diocese of Ilagan in Isabela province.
Bishops from other provinces, clergy, the SVD (Society of the Divine Word) community, nuns, religious, laity and government officials witnessed the occasion.
Tagura reminded them to ”love the flock entrusted to us.”
Tagura was first consecrated/ordained bishop on Feb. 17 by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization at the Christ the King Mission Seminary in Quezon City, where Tagura was rector and dean of studies.
Tagura cited Tagle’s homily during his ordination where he talked about “vigilance and constant look at the Good Shepherd.”
“What makes Jesus’ teaching special is that it is a way of life of sharing which comes from an experience of the love of Jesus,” he said.
Touching on the vision of the vicariate, Tagura said “we become the change and difference we are praying and hoping for.”
The bishop took his Philosophy and Theology studies at the SVD Seminary in Tagaytay City.
He professed final vows on May 31, 1988 and was ordained priest on Dec. 17, 1988 in Bangued, Abra.
For the last 28 years, he spent his priestly life teaching in the seminary. (PNA)
