Bishop Presto takes helm of San Fernando diocese
Bishop Daniel Presto was officially installed as the new head of the Diocese of San Fernando in La Union on August 2. PHOTO COURTESY OF SABINS STUDIO
By CBCPNews
August 7, 2018
Manila, Philippines
A special ceremony took place in San Fernando City on Aug. 2 to officially install the man Pope Francis selected to lead the Catholics throughout La Union province.
Most. Rev. Daniel Presto became the sixth bishop of the Diocese of San Fernando, having been appointed to the position by the Pope on May 9.
About a dozen other bishops and more than a hundred priests and religious attended the solemn ceremony held at St. William Cathedral.
The diocese serves roughly around 703,480 Catholics in 28 parishes, or about 86 percent of the province’s total population.
Presto had served as the administrator of the diocese of Iba for around three years, and at 55, is now among the 20 youngest Filipino bishops. He succeeds Bishop Rodolfo Beltran who died in office last year.
Born in 1963, Presto was ordained a priest for Iba diocese in 1990 and earned his mater’s in education from the De La Salle University in Manila.
Prior to becoming a bishop, he served different parishes and as director of the Saint Augustine School of Iba and president of the Magsaysay Memorial College of San Narciso.
“Bishop Presto is here… for only one reason: God sent him here. La Union is God’s will for him,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan in his homily.
Presto then asked the faithful to support him in his huge responsibility with their prayers not only during difficult situations, “but even in good times”.
“We pray for one another. I ask you dear parishioners to pray for us priests and religious,” he said. “Pray that we become holy priests and religious in the same way we shall pray for you always.”
The new bishop also said that he will be a collaborative worker with diocesan personnel, government leaders and all those with responsibility in the diocese.
