A Carmelite priest and a Dominican nun have been appointed as executive secretaries of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP), formerly known as the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP).
CBCP News said the appointments of Fr. Christian Buenafe, O. Carm, and Sr. Cleofe Trance, OP, were announced by the Order of Carmelites in an article posted on its website.
The two were appointed during the recent board meeting of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.
The appointments were also announced during the recent AMRSP online convention, which approved the change of the association’s name to CMSP after 50 years.
As co-executive secretaries, they will supervise the day-to-day operations of the CMSP Secretariat and coordinate with its member institutes and congregations.
Fr. Buenafe and Sr. Trance will also serve as the conference’s representative to its partners and networks.
Prior to her new post, Sr. Trance served as the Religious Coordinator for Junior and Senior High School at the University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi.
The CMSP also appointed Fr. Buenafe as the national coordinator of its JPIC Commission, whose task is to facilitate, coordinate, and establish networks and partnership for the office’s advocacies.
Fr. Buenafe is convenor of the Philippine Carmelite’s JPIC-Social Action Commission and a member of the International General Commission on JPIC of the Order of Carmelites in Rome.
The priest also chairs the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a mission partner of the CMSP.
The Conference’s executive secretaries are co-terminus with the current leadership and the JPICC national coordinator office serves a term of three years.
Fr. Buenafe and Sr. Trance will succeed Franciscan Fr. Angel Cortez and Sr. Happy Montecillo of the Daughters of St. Anne.
Fr. Cortez left Manila on Sunday to assume his new post as vice director of the OFM’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Office in Rome.