Auxiliary bishop ordained for Pangasinan

Pangasinan’s more than a million Catholics have a new auxiliary bishop, Fidelis Layog.

About 2,000 people attended on Wednesday the more than two-hour liturgy where the new bishop promised to be a “companion shepherd”.

“Hence, I am a companion priest brother, a companion among families,” Layog said.

“As a bishop, I am chosen as a broken servant made whole through my trust in God’s mercy,” he said.

The ordination at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was led by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan.

In his homily, the archbishop said that with position comes power and responsibilities.

But the reality, he emphasized, is that “none of those powers can ever be used for yourself”.

“The episcopacy is not meant for enjoyment. Use your powers only with love, for love,” Villegas said.

“You will know the real character of that man when you give him great powers. How you will use that power will show who you really are,” he said.

Pope Francis on March 18 appointed Layog to assist Archbishop Villegas with the ever-growing number of Catholics in the archdiocese.

A priest of the same archdiocese, he was serving at the Our Lady of Purification Parish in Binmaley, Pangasinan upon his appointment.

Layog, 50, studied philosophy at Mary Help of Christians College Seminary and theology at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan City.

After his priestly ordination in 1996, he spent the first four years of his ministry as Prefect of Discipline at the Mary Help of Christians High School Seminary in Dagupan City.

In 2003, he also obtained a degree in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, Italy.