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| Pope Francis |
The recent appointment of Cotabato
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, OMI, by Pope
Francis as the first Cardinal from Mindanao has met with tremendous jubilation
because he is a much-respected leader of the Church. Born in Laoag, Ilocos
Norte and for a while was assigned to the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia in
Vigan, the appointment of Quevedo, who spent most of his working life serving in
Mindanao, as its first Red-Hat Church official, is phenomenal by itself.
As one Church observer put
it, the big island still seething with dissidence and frequented by typhoons
and other calamities is “not traditionally considered among the “cardinalatial
sees” such as Manila and Cebu have been. And yet there Quevedo of Cotabato is at the senior age of 74,
becoming its first Cardinal ever.
XXX
I consider this reality as
the Vatican’s recognition, under the year-old papacy of the revolutionary
Francis, of the importance and significance in the life of the Church of “non-traditional”
areas characterized by continuing poverty and backwardness. That the Vatican has finally
recognized Mindanao as a region of enormous potential even for the growth of
the Faith, affirms its “new normal” bias
for non-traditional hunting grounds in Asia, Latin America (where the Pope himself comes from) as well as in the dark continent of
Africa---or what the Pope terms "the periphery of the Roman Catholic Church at the
expense of the center.”
Of the 19 new cardinals
appointed by Pope Francis two are from Asia (aside from Quevedo, the Archbishop of Seoul, South Korea), three from Latin America (namely, Nicaragua, Chile and Argentina) as well as small countries like quake-stricken Haiti in the Caribbean and the former French colony of Burkina
Faso in the more destitute part of Africa.
Quevedo, as writer Thomas C.
Fox stated in the “NCR Today” last Jan. 12, had played a major role as Secretary-General
until 2011 of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), where his
influence was felt “in developing volumes of Asian pastoral statements in
recent decades.” Fox notes that the new Cardinal-elect is “widely
respected among his Asian peers” and an indication of that vast esteem was that
in 1994 he was elected with the highest vote to membership in the General
Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.
XXX
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| Cardinal-elect Orlando Quevedo, OMI |
Writer Fox attaches great
significance to the role of Quevedo in the FABC as well as the birth of that
organization itself which symbolizes the emergence and connection of Asia to
the Holy See. This started from the pastoral visit to our part of the world by Pope
Paul VI in November 1970, which saw Asian bishops converging in Manila. Out of
that conference emerged the idea, wrote Fox, of forming a pan-Asia episcopal
conference which later became the FABC.
On the home-front, the
nomination of Archbishop Quevedo to represent the big island of Mindanao in the
Holy See comes at a time when the Aquino government has signed a peace
agreement with the MILF for the creation of the “Bangsamoro nation.” The
success of this government initiative is still very much up in the air,
but those who know Quevedo know the kind of role he has played---and will
continue to play--- in the relations between the Christian and Muslim faiths.
XXX
Former Jesuit Provincial
Romeo J. Intengan played up the formation of Archbishop Quevedo as a major factor
for what was “long over-due”---his appointment to the Red Hat from Mindanao.
Consider this most glowing
tribute to Quevedo that this blogger has received via text from Fr. Intengan, who opined: “To begin with, the Archbishop is an affable, personable man
and leader, an excellent and well-rounded intellectual but with a ‘practical’
formation---as formator, pastor, manager, missionary, theologian and writer.”
Intengan stressed that the new Cardinal-elect is ”a man of keen and clear
intellect, a good analyzer and synthesizer of ideas, balanced judgment and
careful yet resolute execution---as parish priest, seminary formator, Prelate-Bishop of Kidapawan, Archbishop of Nueva Segovia and
ultimately as Archbishop of Cotabato” prior to this new honor bestowed him by
Pope Francis.
The former Jesuit provincial
found Quevedo “effective as CBCP President, and that several times he was its delegate
to and held important office or function in the FABC as well as the Synod of
Bishops of the universal Church, where he often drafted and edited their final
statements.”
Intengan opines that the
Cotabato Archbishop is “an excellent choice as the first Cardinal from Mindanao,
“for having grown up in the Cotabato area he understands and is deeply empathetic
with the history, aspirations, grievances and problems of Philippine Muslims,
particularly the Maguindanao and Iranun.” Intengan asserts that Quevedo is “an eminent practitioner of interfaith
dialogue and cooperation---he being a co-founder of the Bishop-Ulama
Conference (with the late Lanao del Sur Gov. Mahid Mutilan).”
XXX
A military chaplain assigned
to head the Army Chaplaincy’s Plans and Programs, Fr. Steve Penetrante, saw
another side to Archbishop Quevedo: his facilitating developmental projects in
the region, notably in the huge Rio Grande in the Cotabato area where
persistent floodings have marred progress. Fr. Penetrante stressed that the
credibility of the Church in the person of the Archbishop was lent to these
developmental projects.
The chaplain also paid
tribute to the deep involvement of the Cardinal-elect in fostering an ecumenical
faith community in the region which has been most beneficial to the military
sector.
XXX
This blogger doesn’t really
know Archbishop Quevedo beyond hellos, but I have good recollections of him. I
remember well his eloquence in that pastoral letter the CBCP issued last year
which he was said to have penned---where the Philippine bishops, feeling quite
beleaguered by many burning issues of the day, plaintively sought Christ--just like
the Apostles adrift in the Sea of Galilee---whom they feared seemed to be asleep
on the stern of the boat as the sea became wild and frightful.
When the Pajero issue hit
the front pages over two years ago, as raised by PCSO as a way to embarrass the
CBCP and the Arroyo administration, it climaxed in a jam-packed Senate hearing where
leading lights of the Church, led by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, attended in a show
of unity. Archbishop Quevedo delivered the bishops’ statement of protest
against what they considered the unjust and unfair accusation that those were
luxury vehicles they had received. Quevedo was forthright and strong and impacted
credibility.
XXX
Those supposed Pajeros were parked
that morning in front of the Senate and media saw for themselves their state---nothing
fancy about them. In fact, I had a
chance to interview the bishops’ drivers and they spoke about how the vehicles
were devoted mainly for rugged use in mountains and fording streams in
hinterland provinces and often by the communities served (I saw personally that
some vehicles didn’t even have rear seats; the drivers said this was because they
were used for loading the sick to hospitals and even packing families
for funerals).
From the Senate the mostly battered
vehicles were then taken and parked by PCSO people in the PICC vicinity behind
the Cultural Center of the Philippines. But not long after a strong typhoon hit
Manila and damaged the walls of the Bay, including those of Sofitel. The PCSO-reclaimed vehicles were also damaged beyond repair and to hide its embarrassment
from media PCSO towed these to its compound in San Marcelino, Manila
where today they rot in the sun.
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