MATI, Davao Oriental, Dec. 13, 2009─Papal nuncio in the Philippines, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams will lead the celebration of the founding anniversary of Mati diocese on December 14 with a Pontifical Mass at the San Nicolas de Tolentino Cathedral at 9 a.m.
The nuncio, due to arrive in Mati on Sunday morning, Dec. 13 will be feted with a grand welcome by representatives of the local government led by Davao Oriental Gov. Corazon N. Malanyaon and Mati Mayor Michelle N. Rabat.
Adams will also meet in a separate audience the diocesan clergy and women religious during his two-day stay in the diocese. His other activities will include the blessing of the Rosary Garden at the Carmelite Monastery in Tua-tua and a Christmas party with the clergy and religious men and women of the diocese.
Davao Oriental’s development as a local Church can be traced to the efforts of the early Spanish missionaries who brought the faith to the province.
But formal evangelization took off only in the 19th century with the coming of various groups of religious orders and missionaries such as the Augustinian Recollects and the Jesuits who served in the province for almost a century. The Foreign Mission of Quebec Fathers, also known as PME Fathers, and the Maryknoll Fathers also left their mark in the province through the various parishes and schools they established until the diocesan clergy took over in 1978.
Mati was canonically erected as a diocese on February 16, 1984 with Bishop Patricio Alo as first bishop.
Currently, it has 38 diocesan priests, 4 religious men congregations, and 12 religious women congregations assisting the bishop in the administration of the sacraments, pastoral and social needs of the diocese.
The diocese comprises the entire civil jurisdiction of the whole province of Davao Oriental with 11 Municipalities. It is ecclesiastically divided into 18 parishes. (CBCPNews)
