THE VATICAN has appointed a Thomasian as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, Cagayan.
A native of the same province, the 45-year-old Fr. Ricardo Baccay, who was ordained bishop last April 10, will assist Tuguegarao Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan, also a Thomasian, who will canonically retire on October 19.
Bishop Baccay, the rector of the San Jacinto Minor Seminary in Tugeugarao, was ordained priest in 1987 after studying Philosophy and Theology at the UST Central Seminary from 1978 to 1986. He took his masteral degree in Education and doctoral degree in Educational Management at the Lyceum of Aparri in 2002 and assumed the post of director of the archdiocese’s Comission on Christian Formation and rector of the San Jacinto Seminary.
His nephew, Faculty of Arts and Letters faculty member Aldous Baccay, said that his uncle needs support and prayer from his family and the Tuguegarao community, as “his vocation entails a lot of dedication, passion, and holiness.”
“I feel proud to have an uncle who is a bishop, a shepherd of the whole archdiocese,” Baccay said.
Baccay cited the bishop’s passion and dedication in the ministry.
“When I was still small, I wanted to be like him,” said the younger Baccay who once entered the UST Central Seminary but left in October 2000. “As an uncle to the family and a priest to the community, Bishop Baccay is a pillar of strength and unity. When everyone around him breaks down, he is left to put all the pieces together.”
Bishop Baccay also served as the secretary to Archbishop Talamayan from 1987 to 1993 and was appointed as catechetical director of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao from 1988 to 2006. He also served as a pastor of the Saint Dominic Parish in Gataggamman and Santo Niño Shrine in San Gabriel. Nathaniel R. Melican
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