A CATHOLIC PRIEST died while attending the Episcopal ordination of the country’s youngest bishop – Jose Rapadas in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Ipil town.
Father Albert Trazo of Iligan Diocese suffered a suspected heart attack while attending last week’s ordination. The 60-year Trazo, who served as parish priest of Maigo town in Lanao del Norte province, died on the way to hospital.
Father Teresito Soganub told Ucan News that Trazo seemed ill before the ordination began. “I just heard that they were looking for a rescue and an ambulance and I learned that Father Trazo was brought to the hospital. The next information we got, he was dead,” Soganub said.
More than 250 priests and bishops attended the prelate’s ordination, the first to have been held in Ipil after it was declared a diocese in 2010. Speaking after the ceremony, the new bishop asked for prayers because he said he knows he will face challenges. “Please pray for me that I may have the courage and strength, that I may be a joyful and humble servant to the people of Iligan,” he said.
Pope Francis named the 45-year old Rapadas as head of Iligan Diocese, which has a Catholic population of about 1.5 million. Rapadas, who will be installed as the prelate of Iligan on September 5, was born in Manila’s Tondo district in 1972 and ordained a priest in 1999 after finishing his studies at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Cagayan de Oro City.
He holds a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Loyola School of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University. As a priest, he served as a seminary professor and rector, director of catechesis, parish vicar and coordinator of the diocesan social pastoral ministry. (Divina Suson – Ucan News)
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