ORDAINED. Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales presents newly ordained Kabankalan Bishop Louie Galbines to the congregation at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City. Photo by Ronnie Baldonado
BACOLOD CITY – In solemn rites led by retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Msgr. Louie Galbines, 51, was ordained as the third bishop of the Diocese of Kabankalan at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City on Monday.
“This man is worthy to be bishop so let’s pray for him as he carries out this new task God has assigned him,” Rosales said.
More than 30 bishops and archbishops, 200 priests, and a crowd of about 1,000 gathered at the cathedral for the rites also attended by Archbishop Romulo Valles, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president, and Msgr. Gabriel Viola, secretary of the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines.
Rosales said “the appointment of a bishop is a work of the Church with much prayer and scrutiny among others who could be the next pastor of a Diocese.”
Galbines, former vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod, was chosen based on recommendations of those who know him and with much prayer, Cardinal Rosales said.
“Please pray for me. I do not know the future but I know God is always there,” Galbines said.
He added that he was assuming the post of bishop “with a mixture of excitement, fear and that feeling of trust in God’s grace because it’s all about him not about me.”
Before his appointment as Kabankalan bishop, Galbines, 51, had served as vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod from Jan. 2013 to March 2018.
The new Kabankalan Bishop Louie Galbines (center) with the archbishops and bishops who joined his episcopal ordination at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City this morning.
He has chosen “Confido,” the Latin word for “I trust” as his Episcopal motto, taking inspiration from Psalm 143:8 – “At daybreak be merciful to me, O Lord. In the morning let me know Your love for I put my trust in You. Make me know the way I should walk for to You I lift up my soul.”
Galbines said the psalm echoes his complete trust in God’s love and mercy, and that in his humble acceptance of his role, the Lord will not forsake him.
The new Kabankalan bishop was born in Aliwanay, Sagay City in Negros Occidental on Nov. 18, 1966, and was ordained a priest on April 29, 1994.
He graduated valedictorian from the Ma-ao Elementary School and the Our Lady of Pilar Academy in Murcai Negros Occidental. He graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas in 1988. He has a degree in Philosophy and in Theology from the same university.
Galbines also graduated magna cum laude from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome where he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology. /ee