MANILA, Sept. 19, 2011— Six new priests who will serve in the Archdiocese of Manila’s parishes are to be ordained by Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.
The Manila archbishop will oversee the ceremonies at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros on October 1.
The new clergy includes Reverends Neofil Uy Aguillon, Roy Rexelle Malty Decena, Gerardo Isidro Reyes, Edric Sanico Bedural, Herbert John Basco Camacho and Kristoffer Huerta Habal.
Aguillon is from Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary while Decena and Reyes are graduates of the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary.
Bedural, Camacho and Habal, meanwhile, took their theologies at the San Carlos Seminary.
They would soon join the around 450 diocesan and religious priests in the country’s second largest archdiocese next to Cebu.
The ordination will also take place amid a shortage of priests in the country to serve around 70 million Catholics particularly in the Manila archdiocese.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo previously said that the ideal ratio should be at least one priest per 2,000 parishioners.
But in Manila, the ratio is 1 priest to around 5,000 parishioners, according to the websitewww.catholic-heirarchy.org. [CBCPNews]
