New Kidapawan bishop installed

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines –Bishop Romulo Tolentino dela Cruz was installed Thursday as the new bishop of the Diocese of Kidapawan, one the biggest in south and central Mindanao in terms of numbers of parishioners, lay leaders, and religious congregations. The installation was held at the Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral. It was witnessed by Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, as the officiating bishop. Dela Cruz, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Antique for seven years, was appointed last May by Pope Benedict the XXVI as the new bishop of Kidapawan in Mindanao. The Diocese of Kidapawan has been vacant since January 2007 after Bishop Romulo Valles was elevated to the rank of Archbishop and was transferred to Zamboanga. Born in Balasan, Iloilo, dela Cruz was ordained as priest at the age of 29. He was later appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Isabela in Basilan. Before becoming a bishop, he served as parish priest in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, and as rector of the Notre Dame Archdiocesan Seminary in Sultan Kudarat, Shariff Kabungsuwan, where he took his seminary training. Aside from Notre Dame, dela Cruz also trained at Saint Francis Xavier Major Seminary in Davao, and at the Institute on Religious Formation in Saint Louis, Missouri in the United States. The installation of Bishop Dela Cruz has instilled in the faithful a deeper appreciation of their faith and a broader understanding of the office of bishop or his role and function in the Christian community. The celebration tries to capture in ritual form the nature of the Church and the relationship of the bishop to the Church. “There is no Church without the bishop", said a Diocesan priest. “The bishop is above all the shepherd of the diocese that is entrusted to him. The bishop is also the successor to the Apostles, head of the local Church, and the representative of Christ," he explained. Quevedo, in his homily, said that with Bishop dela Cruz as the new ‘shepherd’ of a flock of Christ’s believers in this part of the region, he expects resolution of ‘conflicts’, and unity and reconciliation among his people. A jolly Dela Cruz has accepted his new assignment with gladness and assured his ‘flock’ that in whatever way possible, he would unite his people, however ‘divided’ they may be. Dela Cruz has also appointed Fr. Mandy Angeles as the vicar general of the diocese. As vicar-general, Fr. Angeles will assist Bishop dela Cruz in matters of law or administration. - GMANews.TV