Fr. Ryan ordained as 2nd Bishop for Diocese of CK

Rev. Fr. Ryan P. Jimenez was ordained and installed to the Order of Bishops yesterday in a three-hour long ceremony steeped in tradition of the Catholic faith. Jimenez became the second bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa after Bishop Emeritus Most Rev. Tomas A. Camacho, D.D.

Camacho, who officiated Jimenez’s priestly ordination in 2003, was one of the three ordaining bishops that officiated the Episcopal Ordination and Installation. Most Rev. Savio Tai-Fai Hon, SDB, was the principal ordaining bishop, while Most Rev. Julito B. Cortes, DD, is the other ordaining bishop.

Hon is the Secretary of the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples and the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdioces of Agana, while Cortes is the Bishop of Dumaguete.

Archbishops Most Rev. Peter Choy Long, DD, of Fiji; Most Rev. Jose Palma, DD, of Cebu; Most. Rev. Amando Samo, DD, of the Caroline Islands; and Most Rev. Daniel Parcon, DD, concelebrated the mass.

Clergy from the Archdioceses of Agana, Manila, Capiz, and Cebu, and the dioceses of Chalan Kanoa, Caroline Islands, Dumaguete, Laog, and San Jose and San Francisco in California, and from the Society of Jesus, and Augustinian Recollects also concelebrated the mass.

Hon, in his homily, offered Jimenez some reflections of his Episcopal ministry on the words said by Mary when she visited her cousin Elizabeth: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.”

Hon said being a bishop is part of the apostolic succession of the Church. “This is the proclamation of your new obligation to the community. What’s important is for you to guide the community under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

He then asked the people to always include Jimenez to their prayers so he may fulfill his duties and obligations to the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. “That he may have a life of prayer to help us to be closer to God in a community of holiness.”

Palma read the message of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, DD, where the current president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines congratulated Jimenez, a native of Siquijor in the Phillipines.

“You have been the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa for the past six years and this a testament of your missionary call to the Church. We welcome you to the Episcopal fraternity and ministry. And with your guidance, the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa become a home for the faithful to witness and encounter the love of Christ,” said Villegas in his message.

Jimenez, in his first time to address the crowd as bishop, said he chose the motto Volumus Iesum Videre or We wish to see Jesus a verse taken from John 12:21. “To see is to go down deep. After we go down deep, only then that we believe. To look down deep is to see what God had promised to us.”

He said that when he first received his appointment it was an answered prayer from God that finally the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa will have a new bishop. “But I prayed after that, ‘Lord, surely you could have done much better.’”

“Because when I look at myself, I see a weak and simple creature. You all know me. You have seen my faults, my frailties. There’s nothing that I hide from you. The words of St. Paul also came to my mind, ‘you the weak, make them strong and they are able to see You.’”

He then told the faithful to remind him of his duties and what he vowed to do if ever he forgets it. “This is not about me. It is not about power but the humble service to God and His church. And if ever I forget that, just tell me.”

Jimenez also explained a part on his coat of arms that has an outrigger canoe sailing in between two islands. He said that it symbolizes his journey from the Philippine island of Siquijor to the islands of the Northern Marianas. “We may be divided by the vast ocean but if we look down deep we will see that the islands are not all separated. All the islands are all connected.”

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who attended yesterday’s installation with first lady Diann Torres and Lt. Gov. Victor B. Hocog, said in a statement that Jimenez’s ordination to the office of bishop is a great blessing to the people of the CNMI.

“[Jimenez]. Who though not born here, has made this place his home to nurture our people’s faith and spirituality. May the blessings of the Almighty be with you as you assume the great responsibility of shepherding the flock here in the Northern Marianas,” said Torres.

Palau President Tommy Remengasau, House Speaker Ralph Demapan (R-Saipan), Attorney General Edward Manibusan, Chief Justice Alexandro Castro, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Department of Public SafetyCcommissioner Robert Guerrero, and other members of the CNMI administration and Legislature also attended yesterday’s ceremony.

Jimenez’s older brother, Roy, said their family is grateful on his ordination as bishop. “In behalf of the family, we felt so blessed and we’re happy. We just want to thank the people of Diocese of Chalan Kanoa for supporting my brother Bishop Ryan.”

“We are happy and proud of having a member of the family who becomes a shepherd of God’s flock. I congratulate the people of CNMI,” he added.

Bishop Jimenez is the second of four children by Rogelio B. and Lilia P. Jimenez. Ray and Rochelle are his other siblings. He was Chancellor under the then Bishop Camacho and became the diocese’s Apostolic Administrator upon the death of Rev. Fr. Manuel Corcuera in 2010.

Corcuera took over the diocese’s administrative duties when Camacho retired in the same year at the age of 76.