Bishop Pablito Tagura, SVD, was canonically installed as bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, on Saturday, February 25.
Bishop Tagura is the third bishop of the vicariate appointed by Pope Francis in December last year.
Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, led the installation rites at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker in San Jose.
“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,” said the 61-year-old Tagura, a native of Abra province.
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, members of clergy and the Society of the Divine Word, nuns, religious, laity and government officials witnessed the occasion.
Bishop Tagura reminded them to “love the flock entrusted to us.”
The prelate was ordained bishop on February 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 Bishop Tagura used to be rector and dean of studies.
Bishop 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, Bishop 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.
