His Excellency, The President

MOST REV. SEVERO C. CAERMARE, D.D.
Third Bishop of the See of Dipolog

On the Thirtieth (30th) day of October in the Year of the Lord Two Thousand and Fourteen (2014) at Nine (9:00) o’clock in the Morning, Thursday, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Dipolog City, was the Solemn Eucharistic Celebration of Episcopal Ordination and Canonical Taking-Possession of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Severo Cagatan Caermare, D.D., as the Third Bishop of the See of Dipolog.  He was conferred by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Giusseppe Pinto, D.D., Titular Archbishop of Pandosia, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines as the Principal Consecrator, His Excellency the Most Reverend Jose A. Cabantan, D.D., Bishop of Malaybalay as Co-Consecrator and His Excellency, the Most Reverend Jose R. Manguiran, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of Dipolog as Co-Consecrator also together with His Eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, O.M.I., D.D. as the Homilist.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Dipolog City was filled with bishops, clergy, religious, lay faithful, family members, friends, parishioners, visitors and people from the different dioceses of DOPIM (Dipolog, Ozamis, Pagadian, Iligan and Marawi), other dioceses and places.  The preparation of the said big event was led by the Very Rev. Fr. Joel S. Montederamos together with the supports of the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese of Dipolog.  In the Eucharistic celebration with full gladness, excitement and joy for Most Rev. Severo C. Caermare to be consecrated as the new bishop of the See of Dipolog, Msgr. Emigdio Socias made the reading of the mandate of Apostolic See that commanded his episcopate.  In the homily of His Eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, O.M.I., D.D., he emphasized that the laying of hands of the Consecrators, pronouncing the prayer of consecration will let the Holy Spirit transform Most Rev. Fr. Caermare forever in which our human minds cannot understand.  He stated that Bishop Caermare’s ministry is truly a tremendous mystery and a gift because through him, Christ Himself as the High Priest, sanctifies His people, through him,  Christ Himself as the prophet, proclaims the Father’s reign of as King, leads His people on the way to eternal happiness in the Kingdom of God.  He then challenged Bishop Caermare that in his life and ministry, he must always be for the poor and to follow constantly the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.  He ended his homily with the aphorism of Pope Francis that goes, “The bishop will sometimes go before his people pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant, at other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuring and merciful presence and yet at other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and above all allowing the flock to strike out on new paths”, and then giving the blessing of the Blessed Mother of God and Jesus Christ to guide him to become a Good Shepherd.  by then, Archbishop Giusseppe Pinto, D.D., expressed also a message of thanks for the 27 years of service rendered by Bishop Emeritus Jose R. Manguiran, D.D. to the See of Dipolog, offering his life to God and for the Church as a father and a pastor and urging Bishop Caermare to never lose his wonder of the plan of God.  After the message of Archbishop Pinto, Bishop Caermare went down and turned around the aisle of Cathedral to bless the people.  Subsequently, the new ordained Bishop Caermare delivered his message starting to express his motto, “Benedicam Dominum Semper” which means “I will bless the Lord always” adapted from Tobit 4, 19 and Psalm 34, 1.  He expressed his message with full of joy and gratitude and a little undeniable tense.  As the youngest bishop in the Philippines in his time, he was determined enough to conquer his human limitations and difficult cross of responsibilities through the love and care of God and taking these challenged to be more confident, more faithful, more zealous and brave in his ministry believing that everything happens for a purpose of increasing his firmness of faith.  He stressed that Pope Francis’ values and ways of being pastor will be the sources of his inspiration to be a shepherd who always carries the smell of the sheep.  Thus, asserting on the point that authentic power is service, he assured everyone that he will be a collaborator for good governance, fairness, justice and peace and will not hesitate to criticize and condemn the evils that come from the abuse of powers.  He said, for us he will be a bishop but with us he will be a friend, father and a brother.  He ended his message by thanking everyone and with a song, avowing to God, “Thank you for choosing me from all the rest, though I’m for from being the best, but most of all I thank you, for loving me.”