TACLOBAN CITY ,Philippines — Three Leytenos were ordained as priests of the Archdioces of Palo during a presbyteral ordination held this week at the Sto. Niño Parish Church in this city.
The three are Rev. Fr. Erwin Kim Miro of Ormoc City, whose proud parents are Virgilio Sr. and Amparo Miro; Rev. Fr. Chris Arthur Militante of Palo, Leyte, the son of delighted parents Cipriano Jr. (deceased) and Angela Militante; and Rev. Fr. Gwen Lovelino Padagdag of Barugo, Leyte whose elated parents are Wilfredo (deceased) and Damiana Padagdag.
Cebu Archbishop, Most Rev. Jose S. Palma, D.D was the ordaining bishop and main celebrant in the Eucharistic celebration for the event.
A presbyteral ordination is a ceremony during which a baptized man is consecrated as a priest and the bishop is the proper minister of the Sacrament.
Gratias tibi Deus, gratias tibi (Thank you, dear God, thank you.)---were the first words of Miro, and in behalf of the two other ordinands, after their official installation as new priests of the archdiocese.
Miro added: "Thank you. First, to Almighty God for the great gift of the priesthood; to the Blessed Mother Mary; our parents for their care, prayers and love; and our formators in the seminaries and priests who were instrumental in our vocation to the priesthood."
Miro had his Scuola Sacerdotalle (priestly school) in Loppiano, Italy, but he and Militante had their theologies at the St. John the Evangelist School of Theology in Palo, Leyte.
Padagdag had his theology at Collegio Ecclesiastico Internazionale sedes Sapientiae (International Ecclesiastical College Seat of Wisdom) and Pontificia Universita della Santa Croce (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross), both in Rome, Italy.
After the ordination, the new priests had their Canta Misa in their respective parishes: Militante at the Our Lord's Transfiguration Parish in Palo, Leyte last June 21; Miro at the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Ormoc City last June 22; and Padagdag at the St. Joseph Parish in Barugo, Leyte last June 23.
Together with Archbishop Palma, the ordination rites were also attended by Rev. Msgr. Jaime Villanueva, archdiocesan administrator of the Archdiocese of Palo, Rev. Msgr. Bernardo Pantin, parish priest of Palo Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lord's Transfiguration, priests from the suffragan dioceses, religious men and women, relatives and friends and other lay faithful.
As a Diocese on November 28, 1937 and as an Archdiocese on November 15, 1982, the Archdiocese of Palo has now more than 150 diocesan priests, a source of the archdiocese said.
The ordination of the three new priests was not a diaconal ordination, but this year the Palo Archdiocese has one deacon, Rev. Raymun Soto, who is now in his first year study of Canon Law in Spain, he said.
The source added that there are three other candidates for the diaconate in the archdiocese, but are still waiting for their diaconal ordination date.