Following the untimely demise of Diocese of Tarlac Bishop Enrique Macaraeg, Fr. O’Neal Sanchez has been elected as administrator of the diocese until Pope Francis appoints a successor.

In a news release, the diocese said the selection of Fr. Sanchez was made by its board of consultors.
“The Diocese still mourns due to the sudden death of our beloved Bishop, Most. Rev. Enrique V. Macaraeg, we still ask you to please continue to pray for his eternal repose and for the intentions of our diocese ,” the diocese said.
“In this time of sadness, the diocese must continue to journey, to move forward to do the mission entrusted by Jesus, our Good Shepherd. After the meeting and election done by the board of consultors that is being witnessed by Most Rev. Florentino Lavarrias, D.D., Archbishop of Pampanga, it is with hope that we announce, the official Administrator of the Diocese, Rev. Fr. O’neal Sanchez, currently the moderator of the Team Ministry of Santuario de la Inmaculada Concepcion in Concepcion, Tarlac,” the news release said.
The priest will serve until Pope Francis names a successor to Bishop Macaraeg, who was laid to rest on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
Fr. Sanchez is currently the diocese’s vicar general and rector of the Santuario de la Inmaculada Conception.
Bishop Macaraeg died on Oct. 23 due to cardiac arrest at the age of 67. He served the Tarlac diocese as his first episcopal assignment for nearly seven years.
San Fernando Archbishop Florentino Lavarias presided over his funeral mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Tarlac City which was attended by around 25 bishops and hundreds of priests.
“When death comes, our existence is overshadowed by darkness but that should also remind us that there is this shadow of death precisely because of the light. And that light we know is the Lord, the one who called us, the one who called our brother to become a servant, to become a priest and bishop, configured to Himself, and that is a source of our consolation,” Archbishop Lavarias said in his homily.
Bishop Macaraeg’s remains were interred behind the cathedral’s altar.