83-yr-old Duetao of Dumaguete Diocese marks 50 years as a priest

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The Most Reverend Manuel Duetao of the Diocese of Dumaguete last Friday celebrated his 50th Sacerdotal Anniversary in a concelebrated Mass at his parish in Kalumboyan of Bayawan City in southern Negros Oriental.

Duetao, 83 years old and from Iloilo, is among the "rare" and few priests in the Dumaguete Diocese who had served in the priesthood for 50 years. The others were the first bishop of the diocese, the late Bishop Epifanio Surban, Monsignor Andres Flores and the late Monsignor Antonio Ferreron.

Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes and about 40 priests attended the concelebrated Mass at the mountain village of Kalumboyan, the parish church that Duetao has managed for many years already, the church building of which he wished he will be able to finish with the help of generous donors.

Duetao said he would like to remain at the Kalumboyan Parish to be able to finish building the church he had started with an estimated project cost of P8-million, but only half of it has been completed so far.

With the coming reshuffling of assignments of the priests in the diocese, however, Duetao said he will not complain if Bishop Cortes will decide to transfer him to another parish. But he admitted that if the parishioners would want him to stay, and with the approval of the bishop, he would like to continue serving the Kalumboyan parish but only as a resident priest and no longer its parish priest.

Duetao hails from Saragay, Iloilo and had completed his Philosophy and Theology studies at the Seminaryo Mayor de San Carlos in Cebu City.

During his 50 years as a priest, Duetao left Dumaguete to serve in the Manila Archdiocese from 1990-1998. There, he spent most of his time writing books with at least 16 of them published to date. One has even sold out with no copy left of the 8,000 published, he told The Freeman. His passion for writing keeps him preoccupied these days, when he is not busy running the Kalumboyan parish.

Duetao said he also believed that "God looks upon us and sees what we can do for His glory, and He gives us the grace to sustain it," referring to having survived the trials and remaining in the priesthood this long. He said he had his own trials, from being involved in sea travel accidents to having fallen off a horse a few times.

Duetao said one of his secrets in remaining strong and faithful to the priesthood vocation is reading the breviary every day. The breviary, a liturgical book of the Catholic Church containing prayers, hymns, readings and similar writings, is his source of strength, he said, although he underscored that it is by God's grace and his love for the Lord to faithfully serve Him that has brought him to where he is now.

Cortes described the length of service of Duetao as a gift, considering that with his age, he is still capable of serving in the vocation. It is extraordinary, not just because of his physical and mental state even at the age of 83, but his fruitfulness as well, having accomplished so many things and until now, "he is still raring to contribute (to the Church) and he is really an amazing model to all of us," said the bishop.

Giving advice to the younger priests in the diocese, Cortes said they should first accept the priestly vocation as a gift and its mysteriousness on how the Lord "tells us to cooperate with that gift." Be healthy physically, mentally and spiritually as well, by living a life that is prayerful, attuned to the will of the Lord, the bishop added. (FREEMAN)