Mindanaotoday.com | Oro archdiocese marks 90th year
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro will mark its 90th year as an ecclesiastical province on Friday, January 20, this year.
“We consider this year as (a) significant milestone of our history as an ecclesiastical territory in Mindanao,” said Archbishop Jose A. Cabantan.
He invited all believers to join him in thanking God for all the graces and those responsible – clergy, consecrated and lay persons – “for living out our faith and by transmitting it” while in journey to fulfill God’s mission.
The Diocese of Cagayan de Oro was created on January 20, 1933 and was elevated as an archdiocese on June 29, 1951.
The archdiocese consists of 70 parishes in Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, and Malitbog, Bukidnon with 119 diocesan and 51 religious priests.
There are more than 1.2 million Roman Catholics within the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, the seat of which is at Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Augustine.
But Cabantan, in a message posted online on Monday, January 16, said statistics and probabilities should not determine future of the of the church.
He said the future of the church “involves the immersion of ourselves in the story of our faith” – “serving and taking care of those in need in whatever way we can,” as clearly shown during the more than two years of coronavirus disease pandemic.
The direction, he said, still towards small Christian communities because this is where the seeds of faith must be planted, and believers must emulate the “restlessness” of St. Augustine of Hippo, the patron of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro.
The 65-year old head of the archdiocese is being assisted by vicar generals Fr. Perseus P. Cabunoc and Mons. Rey S. Monsanto, and Abp. Emeritus Antonio J. Ledesma S.J. (MT)
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