‘I am open to the will of the Holy Father’

Bishop of Tandag says he supports his successor

DAVAO CITY—When news broke about the appointment of the new bishop of Tandag, the current bishop was here in Davao to participate in the 26th National Convention of the Canon Law Society of the Philippines, February 26.

“I will let it sink in first,” said Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag during a chance interview with DCHerald during the dinner after the Holy Mass hosted for the participants at the Marco Polo Hotel.

“I am open to the will of the Holy Father,” said Bishop Odchimar, now 77. It can be noted that the mandatory age for a bishop to submit his resignation is 75 but in the case of Tandag, Bishop Odchimar has to wait for his successor’s installation until he steps down.

Bishop Odchimar said that he knows the bishop-elect of Tandag, Fr. Raul B. Dael from the Archdiocese of Cagayan, the metropolitan church of their ecclesiastical subregion where Butuan, Surigao, Tandag and Malaybalay are also part of.

Pope Francis has named Fr. Dael, from Jasa-an in Misamis Oriental to lead the flock of Tandag.

Born on October 10, 1966, Fr. Dael finished Philosophy at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. He then studied at St. John Vianney Seminary also in Cagayan where he was once assigned as professor and formator.

He was ordained in 1993 at the age of 27 then served as parochial vicar of the San Agustin Metropolitan Cathedral.

Fr. Dael has a Licentiate in Theology from the Loyola School of Theology of the Ateneo de Manila University and also studied spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

DCHerald is yet to obtain the details of his episcopal ordination and installation in the San Nicolas de Tolentino Cathedral in Tandag.