The installation of the newly appointed bishop of the Diocese of Dumaguete, currently Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Julito Cortes, has been set this coming December 5.
Preparations are now underway for the installation of bishop-elect Cortes, who was appointed by Pope Francis last September 28 to the post, said Msgr. Julius Heruela, rector of the Cathedral parish.
Bishop Cortes will be the fourth ordinary of the diocese which has been without a bishop for more than a year since May 2012 after his predecessor, the Most Rev. John F. Du, was installed as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Palo, Leyte.
Cebu Metropolitan Archbishop Jose S. Palma will be officiating the installation of Bishop Cortes while Cebu’s Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will deliver the homily, Msgr. Heruela added.
Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, as well as around 30 to 40 bishops and archbishops from across the country and about 100 priests are expected to attend the installation of Bishop Cortes, according to Msgr. Heruela.
Cortes, 57, was born in Parañaque on July 4, 1956 and was ordained priest in 1980.
He originally hails from the nearby province of Siquijor, which is also a part of the Diocese of Dumaguete.
He entered the seminary at the then St. Joseph Seminary high school (now a seminary college) in nearby Sibulan town, studied philosophy at the Seminaryo Mayor de San Carlos in Cebu City, and finished theology at the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, Bishop-elect Cortes served various positions in the Diocese of Dumaguete, including as the diocesan vicar general for 11 years, rector of the St. Joseph Seminary College, parish priest of Bacong, Negros Oriental, and diocesan administrator following the transfer of then Dumaguete Bishop Angel Lagdameo as the Archbishop of Jaro, Iloilo.
Cortes’ episcopal ordination as Cebu auxiliary bishop was in 2002, where he has been assigned until his appointment to the Diocese of Dumaguete.
He is currently the chairman of the Permanent Committee on Cultural Heritage of the Church of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The installation of Bishop Cortes to the Diocese of Dumaguete is set at 9 a.m. at the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral in Dumaguete, Msgr. Heruela said. (PNA)
