Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We just lost a young priest, zealous and dedicated, one who smelled like his sheep, to an assassin’s bullet right after he said Mass and was baptizing children. We condemn in strongest terms this brutal and cowardly act.
Let us offer our prayers for him, for his bereaved family, and the lay faithful of our beloved Archdiocese. We also pray for all the priests and the religious of our Archdiocese as we celebrate this year, in union with the whole Church in the Philippines, the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons. We pray for their perseverance in their vocation, their good health and their personal safety.
We make our appeal to the authorities specially to the PNP Task Force to act swiftly in going after the perpetrators of this crime and to bring them to justice. There have been too many murders already done with impunity in our country by assassins riding in tandem. May this be the last.
May God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Piat, have mercy on us all.
+ Sergio L. Utleg, D.D.
Archbishop of Tuguegarao
April 29, 2018
