Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales
Mar 24, 2006
I am going to pick up my costume, Cardinal-elect Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop of Manila told his presbyteral council before he left for Rome last March 17. By Teodoro Bacani Jr.
(Manila Standard, March 21, 2006) His manner of jokingly describing the great honor that bestowed upon him and the archdiocese of Manila which he spiritually heads, expresses the way the new cardinal regards earthly honors, including the ecclesiastical ones. Before his new appointment (already taken as a matter of course) was announced by the Vatican, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu, counseled him not to refuse the honor. Cardinal Vidal felt he needed to do so because Archbishop Rosales had already twice refused certain election as president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the last time despite great insistence from his brother bishops that he take up the mantle of CBCP leadership. The elder Cebu ecclesiastic told him that to refuse to accept his appointment as cardinal would be like a slap on the Pope.
But it has been a circuitous way to the cardinalate for the man who did not look for honors but only for service. Archbishop Rosales was born on Aug. 10, 1932 in Batangas City. His mother, Remedios Mayo Borbon, was the first cousin of the great nationalist, Claro M. Recto. As a boy, he wanted already to be a priest. He studied theology at San Jose Seminary, and had as classmates two other future bishops: Bishop Severino Pelayo, former bishop of the military ordinariate, and Bishop Benjamin Almoneda, former bishop of Daet, Camarines Norte. (This fact, by the way, makes their class perhaps the most outstanding in the history of San Jose Seminary, so far).
On March 23, 1958, he was ordained priest by Bishop Alejandro Olalia, and then assigned to teach for 11 years in seminary of the Lipa diocese (now an archdiocese). In 1970, he was given his first parish assignment—an obscure barrio named Baay-baay. He was told by the other priests not to stay long there because there was nothing much to do there. He replied with the spirit that has characterized his whole priestly life, “I will look for something to do.” And he did. He visited practically every house in his parish, meeting with everyone in the process. Up to now, the people in the place which he served for two-and-a-half years remember the tall, kindly priest.
His performance and reputation must have impressed the bishop, for he was transferred to the biggest parish of the diocese, in Batangas City. Cardinal Vidal was then his bishop, and soon afterwards, he was named auxiliary bishop of Manila, the first Batangueño to be made bishop under the stewardship of then Archbishop Vidal. Bishop Rosales was given by the saintly bishop, Maximo Obviar, his bishop’s staff, which Bishop Rosales has been using ever since.
Ordained bishop in October 1974, he was assigned to help the Manila archbishop in shepherding a very big area of the archdiocese of Manila. He took care of the ecclesiastical district of Antipolo, as well as San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Grace Park. Later (1980), he was assigned as rector of the major seminary, San Carlos Seminary. It was there that I came to know him well. Actually, even before he became rector, he served as the bearer of the letter from my bishop, Henry Byrne, bishop of the Prelature Nullius of Zambales, requesting me to accept the offer of Jaime Cardinal Sin to teach in San Carlos. My left foot then was in a cast, as Bishop Rosales visited me with the letter which would bring me to the seminary where he was going to be rector.
His term as rector was brief, though, for in 1982, he was appointed coadjutor bishop to the then controversial and prophetic Bishop Francisco Claver, of Malaybalay. The cardinal-elect reminded me that I asked him then, “What did you do wrong?” I am sure that the appointment was also a puzzle to him. But in his moment of difficulty, he recalls that a stampita (holy picture) dropped from his breviary (liturgy of the hours). It was from Mother (now Blessed) Teresa of Calcutta. When he picked it up, he saw the writing at the back. It read: “Allow God to use you without first consulting you.” These words brought peace to his soul.
He started his ministry in Malaybalay by forming with his people, especially the priest and religious there, a vision of the diocese: that of the total development of every person and all persons, brought about by Jesus Christ. In that difficult assignment, he was able to bring about the unity of the clergy as they struggled especially for justice, peace and environmental protection. He often looks back to his days there as the golden moments of his ministry.
When Archbishop Mariano Gaviola of Lipa retired, Bishop Rosales was appointed to succeed him. When Cardinal Sin was about to retire as archbishop of Manila, the Nuncio told Archbishop Rosales of his impending nomination as archbishop of Manila. He begged the Nuncio with tears not to have him appointed, but the Nuncio did not relent. Now, the humble Gaudencio Rosales is archbishop of Manila, and soon, on March 25, he will be “His Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.”
The man is so low-key that many do not yet know him. I will devote my next column to his style of leadership.
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales