A THOMASIAN has been appointed auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San Jose, in California on Friday, August 29.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Fr. Andres Ligot, a US-based Thomasian priest, was appointed by Pope Leo XIV.
Ligot earned his master’s degree in philosophy from the University in 1988.
He was vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of San Jose, and pastor of St. Elizabeth of Portugal Parish in Milpitas, California.
Born on Nov. 30, 1965 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, the bishop-elect studied at St. Mary’s Seminary in Laoag for high school and San Pablo College Seminary in Baguio City, where he graduated in 1986 with a degree in philosophy.
Ligot attended the San Jose Seminary at Ateneo de Manila University for his first two years of theological studies.
He transferred to Colegio Eclesiástico Internacional Bidasoa in Pamplona, Spain.
Ligot has a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology, a master’s degree in theology, a licentiate, and a doctorate in canon law, which he obtained at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
The bishop-elect was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1992, for the Diocese of Laoag, and was incardinated into the Diocese of San Jose on March 30, 2004.
Before moving to the US, Ligot served as parochial vicar at the St. Andrew Parish in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, parochial vicar of St. William Cathedral in Laoag, and director of the national office for the Catholic School of Evangelization for Asia, among others.
In the US, he served as chaplain at the Veterans Medical Center in San Francisco, parochial vicar of St. John Vianney Parish in San Jose, and pastor at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Santa Clara.
Ligot will assist San Jose Bishop Oscar Cantú in shepherding more than 513,000 Catholics in the California diocese.
