Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales urged diocesal chancellors to foster a “sense of community” within the curia, while Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Antonio Franco reminded them not to view their responsibilities as “mere jobs,” during the first National Convention of Diocesan Chancellors (NCDC) last April 5 to 7 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium.
“Although you occupy a very important role, the chancery is only one (part) in the family of the curia,” Rosales said in his homily in the convention’s concluding Mass.
On the other hand, Archbishop Franco said during the opening Mass that mere functionalism might empty the clergy’s service of its true meaning and value.
“Be careful not to adopt the secular view of merely engaging in a particular priestly ‘profession’ or a ‘career’,” Franco said. “(Keep) your apostolic zeal alive, avoid developing a damaging bureaucratic mentality.”
Meanwhile, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz stressed the duty of diocesan chancellors to file and authenticate, transmit, duplicate, and preserve diocesan documents.
“A plight of a diocese counts much on the capacity of the Diocesan Chancellor to record, file and safeguard its over-all output in terms of canonical instruments and/or official documents for present and future reference purposes,” said Cruz, a former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
The convention featured talks on records and archives management, as well as canon law updates, and discussions on labor.
The election of officers for the NCDC was also held during the convention.
The NCDC was organized by the Archdiocese of Manila, in coordination with the UST Central Seminary. Some 68 chancellors attended the convention. Lady Camille L. de Guia and R. M. M. Forto
