Top officials of the Catholic Church, led by the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Giuseppe Pinto, arrived yesterday for the installation of Bishop Gerardo Alimane Alminaza as the third head of the Diocese of San Carlos.

Alminaza will be installed by the papal nuncio, while Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is scheduled to deliver the homily at the installation rites at the San Carlos Cathedral that starts at 10 a.m. today.

Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, incoming president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Capiz Archbishop Jose Advincula Jr., Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, Kabankalan Bishop Patricio Buzon and more than 20 other bishops are expected at the installation rites, Alminaza said.

Alminaza was Jaro Auxiliary Bishop before his appointment by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos in Negros Occidental.

The San Carlos diocese has been in a period of “sede vacante” since January 2012 when its bishop, Advincula, was installed archbishop of Capiz.

The Diocese of San Carlos covers the towns of La Libertad, Guihulngan, Vallehermoso and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental; and Manapla, Toboso, Calatrava, and Don Salvador Benedicto towns, and San Carlos, Escalante, Cadiz and Sagay cities in Negros Occidental.

Alminaza, 54, who was born in Barangay San Jose, Sipalay, Negros Occidental, has been a priest for 27 years, having been ordained in the Diocese of Bacolod in April 1986 and was appointed auxiliary bishop of Jaro, Iloilo in June 2008.

He studied Philosophy at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bacolod and completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

Alminaza also had post-graduate studies at Fordham University in New York, and obtained his Doctorate in Educational Management at the University of Negros Occidental in Bacolod City.

The motto of Alminaza is “sicut christus vivit”, the Latin for “As Christ lives”.

It is inspired by 1 John 2:6 – “Whoever claims to abide in Christ ought to live just as He lived”, he said.

The motto uses the present tense “vivit” rather than its past tense to signify his commitment to live his life and perform his ministry, not just according to how Christ lived in the past, but also according to how Christ lives even now among God’s people journeying towards the “fullness of communion,” Alminaza added.*CPG

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