Archbishop still serving past retirement age

Now 76, Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi is one year past the mandatory retirement age for bishops. As of Wednesday, he is still clueless as to who the Vatican would name as his successor as bishop of the Archdiocese of Caceres, a post which he has served in the last 28 years.

The Vatican will choose his replacement only after the nitty-gritty process of background investigation and approval of bishops, Legaspi said. The final name is submitted to the Pope for appointment.

According to the Archdiocese of Caceres, the oldest and biggest diocese in Bicol, 94 percent (some 1.2 million) of the people of Camarines Sur are baptized Catholics. The province has 35 towns and two cities.

The third in a brood of 12, Legaspi was born on Nov. 25, 1935, in Meycauayan town in Bulacan to Enrique R. Legaspi, a local politician who became a vice governor of the province, and Luisa M. Zamora.

As shepherd of the archdiocese, Legaspi has been witness to the intensity of the devotion to “Ina,” or the Our Lady of Peñafrancia, as one of his fulfilled wishes. The religious feast in honor of Bicol’s patroness is celebrated every September.

“I thank the Lord and Ina for this blessing. During those years, the shape of the Church in Bicol has changed: more vibrant, more united and clearly faith directed,” he said.

Under his watch, the number of parishes increased from 39 to 75, while the number of priests ordained was 175 out of the total of 230 serving the parishes.

There are also 34 religious congregations for women and eight for men under his jurisdiction.

Technically, Legaspi has retired. He has started bringing his important personal things and belongings to Manila where he will spend his retirement years.

Priestly vocation

“I am going back to the basics of my priestly vocation by hearing confessions and celebrating Mass. I think I have been at the pedestal for too long and never experienced assignment in a parish,” he said.

He said he would simplify his life by living with other members of the Dominican Order, either in Sto. Domingo Church or University of Santo Tomas, where he made a mark as the first Filipino appointed “rector magnificus” in 1971.

Ordained on Dec. 17, 1960, Legaspi’s early vocation was devoted to teaching in institutions run by his religious order.

As first Filipino rector of UST (the university was under Spanish rectors for 360 years), Legaspi said “it was a great honor as it was challenging.” His stint was an “unknown area” for Filipino Dominicans, he said.

His appointment was preceded by an election by three governing bodies—the Dominican priests, the Academic Senate composed of deans and regents, and the Board of Trustees.

Legaspi served as auxiliary bishop of Manila from 1977 until 1984 when he became archbishop of Caceres. He was president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines for two terms.

Fiesta conflict

One of the things he cherishes in the archdiocese is his friendship with then Naga City mayor and now Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Five years before Robredo was elected youngest mayor of the city at the age of 29, Legaspi was installed the 33rd bishop of the archdiocese in 1984.

“We in the Church made a choice in view of the highly divisive political situation at that time. We avoided getting embroiled in partisan politics,” Legaspi said.

Legaspi said Robredo came to see him on several occasions sometime in the early 1990s, when his former political patron and uncle, Luis Robredo Villafuerte (then Camarines Sur governor and now representative of the province’s third district), burned bridges and became a political adversary and rival in Naga.

A conflict had emerged between the archdiocese and Robredo over the celebration of the Peñafrancia feast in the years leading to the 300-year celebration of the devotion to the Ina.

In 2007, Legaspi publicly criticized the growing commercialism of the event, which capitalized on the nine-day religious celebration of the devotion to the patroness. Hundreds of thousands of devotees came from all over the country and Peñafrancia organizations abroad to attend the feast, which culminated in a fluvial procession along the Naga River.

The archbishop asked the city government to limit to “religious devotion” all activities within the pilgrimage areas and along the routes leading to the three big churches in Naga.

Legaspi also protested the use of the Peñafrancia brand even in gay beauty contests and demanded that all other citywide activities like the Ms Bicolandia pageant be scheduled outside the nine-day novena.

He said Robredo listened and cooperated with the Church. Subsequent efforts led to the creation of the Church-City Hall Task Force, which planned the fiesta activities.

“We may be in conflict on how to celebrate the fiesta but it was never antagonistic and we (he and Robredo) remained friends,” Legaspi said.

The stint in the archdiocese has many “bumps” but “always rewarding spiritually. I am truly grateful to Bicolanos for allowing me to grow in the service of the Lord,” he said.