SORSOGON (UCAN): Pope Francis named Father Jose Alan Dialogo to be the new bishop for the Diocese of Sorsogon in the southern of Luzon, the Philippines, on October 15.
Father Dialogo, who is director of the Cardinal Sin Welcome Home for retired priests of the Archdiocese of Manila, will succeed Bishop Arturo Bastes who has stepped down having reached the retirement age of 75 for bishops in the Catholic Church.
Father Dialogo was born in Lagonoy town Daet Diocese, on 10 July 1962. After his high school studies, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Caceres and subsequently attended courses in philosophy and theology at the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary.
In 1999 he was awarded a licentiate in spirituality by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
After his priestly ordination on 31 July 1996, he served as parish priest at San Roque church in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila from 1996 to 1997.
In 1999, he was named vice rector and dean of seminarians at the Seminary of the Holy Apostles for adult vocations in Guadalupe, Makati City.
In 2008, he was appointed parish priest of St. John of the Cross Church in Pembo, Makati City. He has been director of the Cardinal Sin Welcome Home in Manila since 2015.
The Diocese of Sorsogon announced Father Dialogo’s appointment in a social media post on October 15 saying: “Bishop Art broke the #GoodNews at the end of the presbyteral ordination this morning that the Holy Father has appointed Bishop-Elect Jose Alan Dialogo as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon.”
The diocese expressed its gratitude to the Holy Father for providing them a new bishop.
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A post on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines noted that the appointment was supposed to be announced in Rome, but Bishop Bastes sought permission to announce it earlier in his diocese.
Luis Cardinal Tagle of Manila, also announced the appointment during a meeting of the clergy on October 15.
No date has been announced for Father Dialogo’s episcopal ordination and his installation as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon.
