New Tagum Bishop installed

TAGUM CITY—Bishop Medil Aseo is installed as new bishop of the Diocese of Tagum, June 20.

After receiving the sacrament of ordination as new bishop through the laying on of hands of Archbishop of Davao Romulo G. Valles, Bp. Aseo was installed and assumed the cathedra, succeeding Bishop Emeritus Wilfredo Manlapaz as fourth bishop of Tagum.

Bishop Manlapaz served as co-ordinating prelate together with Bp. Edward Malesis of Greensburg during the ordination ceremony at Christ the King Cathedral in Tagum City at 9:00 AM.

In his homily, Archbishop Valles recounted the new bishop’s journey as a priest and as a missionary.

“Just like me, Bp. Aseo’s vocation to the priesthood was born, was nurtured, has found expression… during the time when Tagum was still a prelature, new in the faith, struggling to survive the inhospitable Marcos regime,” Abp. Valles said, also recounting the time when the Maryknoll Fathers served the prelature.

“What a time it was Medil,” the archbishop said, recounting the bloody history of the Philippines.

“But it was the time of the GKKs, it was the time that the GKKs were born. It was said that the Diocese of Tagum is the birthplace of the BECs,” Archbishop Valles said, highlighting the distinct thrust of the Diocese of Tagum in promoting BECs.

He added that the new bishop admits that he is unworthy of this call and has apprehensions in his new task as shepherd of Tagum but he must rely on God Himself and obey Him with joy like what Christ did to the will of the Father.

Gaudium In Obedientia (Joy in Obedience) is his Episcopal Motto from Psalm 40:8, an obedience that he has lived since he became a deacon and then as a priest. He was ordained to the priesthood April 7, 1979.

A missionary in Greensburg, Pennsylvania since last year, the new bishop was not present during the announcement made by Bp. Manlapaz on his birthday. He is a native of Maniki in Kapalong, Davao del Norte and finished Philosophy and Theology at St. Francis Xavier College Seminary and St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary in Davao City respectively.