New bishop named for Diocese of Boac

LUCENA CITY – The New Year brings a new bishop for the Catholic Church in Marinduque.

Pope Francis, on Dec. 31, appointed Monsignor Marcelino Antonio Maralit as the new bishop of the Diocese of Boac in the island-province of Marinduque, according to information released Thursday by CBCP News.

CBCP News is the official news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Maralit, formerly the parish priest of Alitagtag in Batangas under the Archdiocese of Lipa, is the fourth bishop of Boac, said CBCP News.

No date has been set for his episcopal ordination and installation.

The top post for the Diocese of Boac had been vacant since Bishop Reynaldo Gonda Evangelista was named Bishop of Imus in April 2013.

The CBCP News said Maralit served as Vicar of the Immaculate Conception parish in Bauan, Batangas, from 1995 to 1996; was a professor at the St. Francis de Sales Major Seminary in Lipa City in 1996; and was director of the Diocese’s commission for vocations.

Maralit was also vice chancellor, professor, educator and dean of studies at St. Francis Theological Seminary from 2003 to 2009, and rector of the St. Francis Theological Seminary from 2009 to 2013.

From 2013 until his appointment as Boac bishop, Maralit served as pastor of the Invencion de la Santa Cruz parish at Alitagtag and member of the Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Lipa.

Maralit was ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Lipa on March 13, 1995.

Boac was created a diocese in April 1977, separating it from the mother Diocese of Lucena in the province of Quezon.

Marinduque is the home of the famous and colorful Moriones Festival during Holy Week. The religious festival is a re-enactment of Christ’s passion.