Archbishop-elect of Manila meets the press

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Archbishop-elect of Manila meets the press

Archbishop-elect of Manila Gaudencio B. Rosales met the press in a specially organized press conference on Oct. 14 at 9 a.m. at the Archbishop’s Residence in Lipa City.

More 50 journalists representing national, provincial and municipal, and Church media outfits attended the press con, the first ever held by the Archbishop elect since he was named successor to Jaime L. Cardinal Sin on Sept. 15, 2003.

The two-hour press con was aired live over Radio Veritas.

Msgr. Fred Madlangbayan, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Lipa, welcomed the media people to the press con, while Fr. Manny Guazon, head of the archdiocese’s media office closed the conference. Seminarians and tudents from the nearby Canossa Academy and De La Salle College were also present to observe the conduct of the press con.

In his two-page opening remarks, Archbishop Rosales introduced himself to the media, providing them a virtual curriculum vitae. He candidly admitted that it was not easy for him to accept the task to which Pope John Paul II appointed him. “Nobody knew the agonizing experience I underwent in the refusal-acceptance process of becoming a shepherd once more for another and much larger archdiocese.”

At this point, he said, “I ask myself this question: “What can the Archdiocese of Manila expect of me? What do I expect to see? What would the Lord ask me to do for His people?”
He said: “Manila is a city of contrasts, not necessarily of contradictions. It could be that, too. There you have the rich and the very poor, the very learned and those who barely know they have rights, the powerful and the very weak, the deceivers and the deceived. They are all in the Big City.

“There must be solutions to these situations of unfairness affecting the weak and the very poor. And I sense that the solutions will come from the ordinary means people and the powerful rely on.

“If God would continue to prod me the way He had done in the past, then I think the solution will come only in the answers that His Son Jesus, in His compassion, wisdom, truth and goodness, long ago inspired. And it will be my task, with your prayers and support, to translate these for the people in terms that can change lives, values and persons.”

Complete text of Opening Remarks follows:

Opening statement of Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, Archbishop-elect of Manila, at the press conference held on October 14, 2003 at the Archbishop’s Residence in Lipa City

I am Gaudencio B. Rosales, “Dency, for short”, and I was born of Godofredo D. Rosales and Remedios M. Borbon, August 192, in Batangas City. I have six siblings, three boys, Guillermo, Gabriel, Gilbert and three sisters, Rosie, Teresita and Grace.

After my priestly ordination March 23, 1958, I was for fourteen years a seminary formation agent and twice Rector of two seminaries. I also served as parish priest in a small barrio and later in a big city parish.

IN August 1974, the late Pope Paul VI Appointed me as Auxiliary Bishop of Manila. In the Archdiocese of Manila, I served as Bishop in-charge of Antipolo – East Rizal District. IN June 1982, I was appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of the then Prelature(later) Diocese of Malaybalay, Bukidnon.

In Malaybalay I accompanied the Local Church in Bukidnon in their gallant struggle to fight unbridled commercial and illegal logging. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) declared the Total Logging Ban for the Province of Buchanan, perhaps the only Logging Ban declared for a province as a result of the efforts of the Local Church whose priests and deacons were declared Forest Cuards with proper training from the DENR (1990). One of my priests, Father Nery Satur, was murdered by armed men in cahoots with loggers in 14 October 1991. IN connection with this concern for the environment I represented the Diocese of Malaybalay at the NGOF (Non-Government Organizations’ Forum) at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, June 1992.

IN December 1992, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II assigned me to the Archdiocese of Lipa, my home and original Diocese. Here, I worked closely with the priests for their own continuous growth as persons and as pastors. Then we articulated a common pastoral vision that directed and motivated us in the apostolic trust of our many church and parish activities. ( I do not believe in shepherding without a vision. To me it is treason to lead the flock without a directing vision.) Under the umbrella of the vision we identified our needs and then wrote and studied an acculturated catechesis, the book, ARAL NG BATANGUENO.

From the heart of the social doctrine of the ARAL’s Chapter VI we produced PONDONG BATANGAN (PB), a community foudation, which turned out to be the first of its kind in the Philippines.

As National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (1976-1982) it was my distinct privilege to serve in Rome’s Supreme council of the Sacred Congregation for Evangelization’s Pontifical Work for the Propagation of the Faith (two terms), Director of MSP (Mission Society of the Philippines) and Convenor of the International Mission Congress (ICM) in Manila (1979).

For the CBCP I was Vice President for a term, Commission Chairperson for Seminaries for 17 years and for the Commission on Clergy from 1999 till the present. It was also a special privilege for me to have served as Apostolic Visitator of Seminaries in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

The CBCP chose me to represent the Conference in the three World Synod of Bishops – the VIIIth, Special Synod of Asian Bishops and the Xth (1990, 1997 and 2001.)

Last 15 September, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II appointed my unworthy self as the next Archbishop of Manila. It was not easy for me to accept this task. Nobody knew the agonizing experience I underwent in the refusal-acceptance process of becoming a shepherd once more for another and much larger Archdiocese.

Now, I ask myself this question: “What can the Archdiocese of Manila expect of me?”

What do I see expect to see? What would the Lord ask me to do for His people?

Manila is a city of great contrasts, not merely of contradictions. It could be that too. There you have the rich and the very poor, the very learned and those who barely know they have rights, the powerful and the the very weak, the deceivers and the deceived. They are all in the Big City.

If God would continue to prod me the way He had done in the past, then I think the solution will come only in the answers that His Son Jesus, in His compassion, wisdom, truth and goodness, long ago inspired. And it will be my task, with your prayers and support, to translate these for the people in terms that can change lives, values and persons.

14 October 2003