The Vatican has appointed Fr. Samuel Agcaracar as the next bishop of the Diocese of San Jose de Nueva Ecija, ending an eight-month vacancy, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.
Agcaracar, 55, of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) congregation, will succeed Bishop Roberto Mallari, who is currently assigned to the Diocese of Tarlac. He is presently rector of the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City and provincial admonitor of the SVD Philippine Central Province.
Born in Claveria, Cagayan, Agcaracar served as a catechist in his home parish of St. Joseph before entering seminary life. He studied philosophy at Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City and theology at the Divine Word School of Theology in Tagaytay. He was ordained in 2007 and later served as high school director at the Divine Word College of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro.
He holds a doctorate in missiology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is the founder and executive director of the SVD Laudato Si’ Farm in Tagaytay. The CBCP report said that the date for his episcopal ordination and installation has yet to be announced.
The Diocese of San Jose de Nueva Ecija is one of two in the northern part of the province, the other being the Diocese of Cabanatuan.
