07 November 2012, 3:08 p.m. – THE 12TH Rector of the Central Seminary was installed in formal rites earlier today, in the presence of fellow Dominican priests and the Thomasian community.
Fr. Quirico Pedregosa, O.P., head of the Dominican Province of the Philippines for 12 years, said he did not expect any major responsibilities after his term as Dominican provincial, but his instincts told him to accept the new designation.
“The presence of the whole University is an indication how important the Seminary is in the life of the University. The [Central] Seminary actually is one of the most important services of the University offers,” Pedregosa said in his remarks. “Formation is a demand of discipleship.”
The letter of appointment in Latin was read by the secretary general, Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. Pedregosa took his oath of office and profession of faith afterward.
The Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education named Pedregosa the new rector of the UST Central Seminary last Sept. 7.
Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner, III, O.P., UST vice chancellor and Dominican provincial, said in his homily that the new seminary rector is not a stranger to formation ministry.
“Seminary formation is an intense period in discipleship,” said Timoner, himself a former rector of the Central Seminary.
“The future parish priests and bishops of the Church of the Philippines are already in the seminaries all over the country. And a good number of them are already present here. Their formation experience in the seminary and the ecclesiastical studies will determine what kind of ministry and Church we will see in the future.”
Pedregosa had served as chairman of the board of trustees of Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila and Calamba, Laguna; Aquinas University in Albay; Angelicum College in Quezon City and Iloilo; and Our Lady of Manaoag College in Pangasinan.
He finished his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies in 1978. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and masteral in theology in 1979 and 2003, respectively. He received a doctorate in Humanities, honoris causa from St. Paul’s University in Tuguegarao City in 2001.
Pedregosa was ordained to the priesthood in 1981. Denise Pauline P. Purugganan
