Tuguegarao’s new auxiliary bishop named

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Fr. Ricardo Baccay as the new auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Tuguegarao in Cagayan, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, papal nuncio to the Philippines, said.

Baccay, 45, will be the assistant of Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan, who is set to file his mandatory retirement in October when he turns 75.

Filoni said the appointment does not necessarily mean that Baccay would replace Talamayan as head of the diocese since the archbishop’s retirement letter is still subject to the approval of Pope Benedict XVI.

Baccay is at present the rector of the San Jacinto Minor Seminary in Cagayan, where he was born. He finished his Philosophy and Theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, and his Masters of Arts in Education and Doctorate in Educational Management in the Lyceum of Aparri.

Baccay was ordained priest at age 26 and immediately served as secretary to the archbishop for six years.

From 1993 to 1999, he was pastor of the St. Dominic Parish in Gatanggamman before becoming pastor of the Sto. Niño Shrine in San Gabriel until 2005. – Edu Punay