Monday, April 27, 2009

TWO NEW PRIESTS FOR THE ARCHDIOCESE OF COTABATO

TWO NEW PRIESTS FOR THE ARCHDIOCESE OF COTABATO

On April 28, 2009 Reverend Benjamin Laforteza, Jr. and Reverend Salvador Bucario, Jr. will be added to the Diocesan Clergy of Cotabato as Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, DD will ordain them to the Order of Presbyterate. 
   
Rev. Laforteza hails from Katiku, President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat. He is the 4th of the nine children of Mr. Benjamin Laforteza, Sr. and Mrs. Gloria Salamanca – Laforteza.  He was born on May 26, 1978.  He finished his elementary education in 1991 at Katiku Central Elementary School where he graduated Class Valedictorian.  He also topped his class when he graduated at Notre Dame of Katiku High School in 1995 and decided to enter the Notre Dame Archdiocesan Seminary right after high school graduation.  After graduating from the College Seminary he took a three-year regency and worked as the Archdiocesan Youth Coordinator before proceeding to St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in 2003.

Reverend Bucario was born in Sitio Tinago, Brgy. Tibpuan in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat on October 5, 1975.  He finished his primary education in Gestosani Memorial Elementary School in 1989 and his secondary education at Salaman Institute in 1993.  He graduated from the Notre Dame of Salaman College in 1997 with a degree Bachelor of Arts Major in Mathematics and in 1999 gained another degree Bachelor of Arts Major in Philosophy from the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City.  Last March 2009, together with Reverend Ben, he graduated from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary with a degree Master of Arts Major in Pastoral Ministry.


Friday, April 24, 2009

Easter Message of the Archbishop





E A S T E R   M E S S A G E


Beloved People in the Archdiocese of Cotabato:

I greet you with the joyful announcement of Easter: Christ has risen from the dead and has given us new life, Alleluia!

The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ is the central mystery of our Catholic faith. It is the event of our salvation and liberation from sin. It is the event by which Jesus our Lord and Saviour has reconciled us with God his Father and with one another. By dying and rising he has broken the barriers that divide us.

Freed from the slavery of sin we, therefore, must be dead to sin and alive for God. This is the meaning of "new life." We have a radically new life, a life that God himself has shared with us through our Baptism. Being dead to sin, we are enjoined to reject values, attitudes, and behaviour that deal death. Being alive for God we have to live on this earth loving and serving others, particularly the needy.

We would be untrue to our identity as Christians if we fail to love and serve the needy, no matter what tribe or language or culture or religion. We would deny our religious identity as disciples of the Lord Jesus if we fail to promote peace which is the fruit of justice.

Beloved brothers and sisters, together with our beloved Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo I greet you once again with greetings of peace and joy in the Risen Lord! He has died, He has risen, He will come again in glory! Alleluia! 


+Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Cotabato
Easter Sunday 2009 


Diocesan and Religious Priests Renew Ordination Vows at Chrism Mass

Diocesan and Religious Priests Renew Ordination Vows at Chrism Mass

The annual renewal of priestly vows both of the religious and diocesan priests was held at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City during the celebration of the Chrism Mass last April 7, 2009.  Most Reverend Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, DD, together with his auxiliary Most Reverend Jose Colin M. Bagaforo, DD, led the clergy and the religious in their renewal of priestly vows at the sanctuary of the cathedral with the congregation praying earnestly for their priests.

In the morning prior to the celebration of the Chrism mass, the Archbishop gave a recollection to the clergy and the religious at the Notre Dame Educational Association Conference Hall.  In his recollection points Archbishop Quevedo stressed the importance of the Paschal Mystery of Christ to priestly ministry.  He said that, "the priest as the Alter Christus is entrusted to safeguard and to promote the Paschal Mystery as the central mystery of our faith."
In order to understand more clearly the Paschal Mystery, the archbishop presented as a background the Passover Meal of the Jews.  He began by saying that the Jews already celebrate the Passover even before Exodus and it gained a new and a much deeper meaning during the liberation from Egypt.  This Passover gained yet another deeper meaning when Jesus gave himself up as a lamb slain for our salvation making for us a Passover from sin to grace, from death to life and to the freedom of God's children.

Archbishop Quevedo also emphasized the significance of the Institution of the Eucharist and of the priesthood.  "Each priest", the archbishop says, "must follow Christ in total self-donation, in becoming a servant of all and in total availability to the people of God."  He also reminded his priests to "always act in the person of Christ, to act like Jesus, to pray like Jesus and to love the people of God the way Jesus loves."

In the afternoon of the recollection, the priests listened to the President of the Diocesan Clergy of Cotabato and Coordinator of the APA VI as he gave an update on the status of the Implementation and Monitoring of the APA VI Activities in the whole archdiocese.  After the afternoon session all priests went to the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass and for the Renewal of their Priestly Vows.  Archbishop Quevedo thanked in a special the Mother Butler's Guild for the chocolates they gave as a gift to all priests and religious.