CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro will celebrate a triple event for the first time in its history on the last day of this month; and two of those events concern only one man chosen by God to shepherd His flock.
April 30 is a very red-letter day for Rev. Fr. Jose Araneta Cabantan, SSJV. He will be celebrating his 20th anniversary as a priest on that very day, which will also see him ordained as a bishop by no less than the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams.
This year is also the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Camaman-an, Cagayan de Oro City, where Cabantan studied for the priesthood.
Cabantan, parish priest of the Miraculous Medal Parish in Barangay Lumbia and director of the Social Action Center of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Malaybalay by Pope Benedict XVI on February 17, 2010 to replace Bishop Honesto Pacana, S.J., D.D, who tendered his resignation and retirement two years ago.
Pacana is now 77 years old.
Cabantan’s ordination will take place at the newly refurbished St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral here at exactly 9:00 in the morning.
“God truly works in miraculous ways,” he told this reporter, admitting that he will be the first bishop who studied for the priesthood at the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary.
“Dako gyud kini ng milagro sa Ginoo (This is a great miracle of God),” he added.
Fr. Joe, as he is fondly called, was born in Lagonglong town, a fifth class municipality in Misamis Oriental in 1957. He is now 52 years old.
“I had a feeling that something big will happen in my ministry as a priest. But I did not expect this although I already heard ‘news’ about this eventuality but I just keep it in my heart. God really works wonders and I accept this with humbleness,” he said in the vernacular.
Fr. Joe is a chemical engineer by profession before he entered the San Jose de Mindanao College Seminary, also located in Camaman-an in 1983.
He graduated from the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1979.
From Cebu, he had a short teaching stint at the RVM-run St. John the Baptist High School in Lagonglong, teaching Chemistry. But he left teaching for a more lucrative job in Surigao working for Nonoc Mining.
But Fr. Joe said he “heard” the call of God to enter the priesthood. And so after finishing Philosophy at the San Jose de Mindanao College Seminary, he entered the St. John Vianney Major Seminary as part of the pioneer batch of seminarians.
St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, named after the patron saint of priests, St. John Vianney, is an interdiocesan theological seminary faithful to the tradition of the Catholic Church in the formation of candidates for the priesthood. Established in 1985 by the Bishops of the Metropolitan Province of Cagayan de Oro, it serves primarily the dioceses of Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Surigao, Tandag and Malaybalay (CABUSTAM), and secondarily, other dioceses.
Fr. Joe was eventually ordained priest in 1990.
“God maybe has something for me in Bukidnon,” he said.
The Diocese of Malaybalay, which has around 1.4 million Catholics, is served by 80 priests and 164 religious.
Fr. Joe will be the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Malaybalay, following in the steps of Bishop Francisco Claver, S.J., Bishop Gaudencio Rosales (now Archbishop of Manila), and Bishop Pacana.
Claver served as Malaybalay bishop from 1982 to 1984; Rosales from 1984 to 1994; and Pacana from 1994 to 2010.
Fr. Joe will also be the first Malaybalay bishop to come from Cagayan de Oro since it became a prelature 75 years ago. (Bong D. Fabe)
0 Responses to “Triple events mark ACDO”