The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has given its go signal for the division of the country’s largest archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Cebu, into three. Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu (CBCP photo)
In a Facebook post, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma announced the CBCP’s support to his proposal which was aimed at reaching the faithful in far flung areas. The Church leader presented his proposal to split the Archdiocese of Cebu into three during the recent CBCP plenary assembly. He presented their ‘Sugbuswak’ proposal that would create two more dioceses in Cebu. The bishops gave their unanimous approval to the plan. The archdiocese coined the word “Sugbuswak” which was derived from “Cebu” and “buswak,” relating to the Cebu archdiocese’s readiness to blossom like a flower. Based on the proposal, the Archdiocese of Cebu will serve as the Mother Church while a diocese will be created in Northern Cebu and in Southern Cebu. Archbishop Palma will continue to head the Archdiocese of Cebu while Pope Francis will need to appoint two bishops for the newly created dioceses. With the CBCP support, the next step would be to send the ‘Sugbuwak’ proposal to the Vatican in January, said Archbishop Palma.  A committee, the prelate said, is gathering data and conducting interviews to find out how to implement the split. They would then submit the proposed setup to Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles John Brown before sending it to the Vatican for deliberation.
The country’s largest archdiocese has 176 parishes, more than 400 diocesan priests, and around 225 religious priests serving at least 3.8 million Roman Catholics in Cebu.