CABANATUAN City, May 31, 2013—For 50 years, the Diocese of Cabanatuan sowed the Faith to the flock of Nueva Ecija. With this, the diocese will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee on June 1 and 3.
According the Msgr. Elmer Maglinao, the vicar-general of the diocese, the Golden Jubilee is a way to recollect the history and to acclaim the grace and blessing that God has bestowed on his faithful through the foundation of the diocese.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas will celebrate the mass on June 1, Saturday at 9:00 in the morning, as the opening salvo for the June 3 celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the diocese.
Cabanatuan is a suffragan diocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. 
On June 2 will begin the novena and vigil for the celebration on June 3.
The 50th Anniversary celebration will be held on June 3 at 5:30 in the afternoon at the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Cathedral with Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud as main celebrant.
A simple meal will be shared among the faithful after the Mass.
As part of the Golden Jubilee celebration, Maglinao said the diocese will declare some churches as diocesan shrines, establish a house for priest or the “bahay-pari,” and organize a concert of priests.
Message to lay faithful
In his message to the faithful of the diocese, Bancud stressed that the Jubilee celebration during the Year of Faith is a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of Faith.
Divided into three sub-topics, “we remember, we celebrate, we believe,” the bishop emphasized that the anniversary is indeed a momentous occasion for the faithful of the diocese to gratefully recall God’s providential love for all of His people, to joyfully celebrate in Faith the gains and triumphs, and to journey forward with hope as a Christian community.
“The diocese has then considerably grown into a dynamic and vibrant community of Christ’s disciples. In this celebration, we especially take joy in realizing that in our fifty-year journey, we have been blessed by God in many instances of our lives,” the bishop said.
“May this remarkable celebration of thanksgiving for God’s manifold grace to our diocese renew and strengthen the faith of our people so that they may be living signs of Christ’s presence in the world,” Bancud furthered.
The diocese was created on February 15, 1963. It was canonically erected on June 3, 1963 with the Episcopal Ordination and Installation of Bishop Mariano Gaviola as the first bishop. (Jandel Posion)
