THE Archdiocese of Cebu has identified the two new dioceses in Cebu province under the proposed “Sugbuswak” aimed at improving the church’s pastoral management and bringing it closer to more people, especially in the small parishes and those located in far-flung areas and islands in the province.
The new dioceses are the Diocese of Danao in northern Cebu and the Diocese of Carcar in southern Cebu.
Rev. Fr. Marvin Meija, chairman of the Sub-Committee on Geographical Boundaries of the Ad Hoc Committee of the “Sugbuswak,” made the announcement in a press conference on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023.
Sugbuswak is a combination of several words: Sugbu, the native name of Cebu; “sugwak,” meaning to spurt, and “buswak,” meaning to bloom.
Following the 13th General Pastoral Assembly on Nov. 14-16, 2023, Meija said the Ad Hoc Committee has finalized the proposal of the “Sugbuswak” after almost a year of meetings, dialogues, discussions and consultations with various sectors including the Cebu clergy members and the laity.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma in the same media briefing said the proposal will be presented to the next plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the last week of January 2024 for final endorsement.
The CBCP endorsement, together with the final proposal, will be sent to the Vatican City in Rome, the seat of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for further examination and approval.
Palma said it is up to the pope to approve or deny the proposal, hence, he and the members of the ad hoc committee place their hopes in God’s will that the pope will approve the creation of the two new dioceses.
New dioceses
The existing Cebu Archdiocese will be subdivided into three: one diocese in northern Cebu, the current archdiocese as the mother church located in the center, and one diocese in southern Cebu.
In the proposed partition, the Diocese of Danao and its seat shall be established at the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish in Danao City. The area covered will start from the towns of Liloan and Tuburan and go up to Daanbantayan, and include Bantayan Island and the Camotes Group of Islands.
It will have a total of 51 parishes with 82 clergy members, serving more than a million parishioners and Catholic faithful in northern Cebu.
Meanwhile, the seat of the proposed Diocese of Carcar will be placed at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Carcar City. The area covered shall start from the cities of Naga and Toledo and go down to the municipality of Santander.
It will oversee 56 parishes with 84 priests that will serve more than a million parishioners in southern Cebu.
As for the Archdiocese of Cebu, its center of governance will remain at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in Cebu City and will have jurisdiction over the towns of Asturias, Balamban, Consolacion, Cordova and Minglanilla, and the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue.
It has 60 parishes under its jurisdiction with 200 members of the clergy serving around 2.4 million Catholic faithful.
However, it shall remain as the episcopal see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Cebu with the suffragan dioceses including the Diocese of Maasin, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran, Tubigon, and the upcoming Danao and Carcar.
Asset and liabilities
Each of these new dioceses shall be independent from the Archdiocese of Cebu in terms of administrative, ministerial and pastoral functions and services, Msgr. Raul Go explained on Friday.
“(These) will be three independent dioceses. Dili under sa (Archdiocese of) Cebu ang (Diocese of) Carcar. Dili usab under sa Cebu ang (Diocese of) Danao,” Go said.
(The Carcar and Danao dioceses will not be under the Archdiocese of Cebu.)
“In terms of governance and decision-making, they will be independent. Murag ang obispo sa usa ka diocese, naa niya judicial, legislative, ug ang administrative functions,” he added.
(Just like the bishop in a diocese, with him lie the judicial, legislative and administrative functions.)
Go said that under the Code of Canon Law, the assets and liabilities of the existing Cebu Archdiocese and the proposed two dioceses will be divided “fairly and impartially.”
To ensure the equal sharing, Go said their strategy was to create a property management team that acts as a separate corporate entity that shall manage the Archdiocese’s real estate properties in the whole Cebu for the purpose of generating passive income.
“Ang bunga ani niya kay maoy i-share equitably sa unsay diocesesan operation,” Go added.
(The fruits will be shared equitably for the diocesan operations.)
The profits of the equitable division of assets and liabilities shall ensure the sustainability of the operations of the three dioceses, as well as the funding of the retirement and hospitalization of the clergy, he said.
As of the moment, each parish under the Archdiocese is sustainable in terms of financial capacity. Go said once the proposal will be approved and implemented, there shall be a new financial system, where the parishes shall remit their “active” income to their designated diocese.
He said the existing funds for the clergy’s retirement and hospitalization needs shall remain intact, and this will be intended for all members of the clergy of the three dioceses.
The idea of creating new dioceses from the Cebu Archdiocese was first formally introduced in 2002 during a priests’ congress held under the leadership of the late Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal and Most Rev. Emilio Bataclan. However, it did not prosper due to apprehensions of several sectors that were against the partition of the archdiocese.
It was reported that Vidal received the notion from a suggestion coming from the Papal Nuncio, a Pope’s representative at that time.
Growth challenge
After 20 years, Palma announced the start of the feasibility study of the proposed “Sugbuswak” on Dec. 31, 2022.
In the press conference on Friday, Palma said it was time to address the challenges in terms of logistics and administration in line with the growth of Cebu as one of the largest archdioceses in the country through the decentralization of the archdiocese.
“From many observations, Cebu is really a huge archdiocese. And even from that perspective alone or rather the pastoral needs, it has to be addressed in a manner that would be most efficient,” Palma said.
However, he assured the parishioners and the Catholic faithful that the proposal will have an impact only on the administrative aspect, by which he meant that the parishioners from southern Cebu can still attend religious activities in the northern Cebu and vice versa.
“We are not creating walls. We are creating bridges,” Palma said.