Bishop Albert Uy of Tagbilaran has formally elevated the St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral to a diocesan shrine status on Saturday.

The official declaration was made during Mass to celebrate the feast day of Jesus’ foster father.

Prior to the Mass, the bishop led the congregation in a solemn prayer of consecration to St. Joseph.

In his homily, Uy stressed the need more than ever for the Church today to proclaim the importance of dignified work, “of which St. Joseph is an exemplary patron”.

The saint, according to him, is a model for Catholics of an honest and hardworking man.

“People should know that by doing their work faithfully, by engaging in honest business, they are cooperating with God himself,” Uy said.

“And in some way, they become co-creators of the world around us,” he said.

The cathedral parish is one of the first six parishes founded by Jesuit missionaries to Bohol in 1595.

After it was destroyed by fire in 1798, the church was rebuilt and enlarged some years later to what it is today.

On May 24, Uy will also elevate the St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Loboc town as Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe de Extremadura.

The parish was earlier granted the spiritual bond of affiliation from the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, Italy.