Retired Bishop Nestor Cariño, who died over a week ago, was laid to rest Monday, June 2, at the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Great in Legazpi City following his funeral Mass.
Bishop Joel Baylon, who presided over the liturgy, noted in his homily the importance of Cariño’s service to the local Church as its shepherd, even though his episcopal ministry was shortened due to physical and medical concerns.
Among the achievements mentioned was Cariño’s foundational work in establishing the diocesan stewardship program.
“We appreciate the fact that he was the one who initiated and fostered this diocesan stewardship program… that allowed priests to take care of themselves, to contribute to the hospitalization and other needs,” Baylon said.
“It was also him who sustained and encouraged and saw to it that transparency and accountability are things that are really and essentially observed and followed in the diocese,” he said.
Cariño died of acute respiratory failure with other complications at Cardinal Santos Medical Center on May 24. He was 86.
After resigning as bishop of Legazpi in 2007, he lived in his private home in Quezon City. As his health declined, he was moved to Cardinal Sin Welcome Home, a residential care facility for retired priests of the Archdiocese of Manila, located in the Sampaloc district, where he remained for several years.
Cariño was ordained priest for the Legazpi diocese in 1961.
In his early years of ministry, he served as parochial vicar of the cathedral parish, serving under the-Father Jose Tomas Sanchez, who later became a bishop and a cardinal.
Cariño later served as diocesan chancellor before being appointed auxiliary bishop of Legazpi in 1978.
Focus on evangelization
In 1980, he was named the fourth bishop of Borongan in Eastern Samar, where he served for five years.
Msgr. Lope Robredillo, the diocese’s vicar general, said Cariño prioritized evangelization, notably by launching a diocesan catechetical program and building a formation center behind Borongan Cathedral.
He also created the Medical Plan for the Clergy and traveled regularly to the United States and Europe to raise funds for pastoral programs.
In 1983, Cariño required priesthood candidates to undergo formation at the Focolare Center in Tagaytay City.
“It was his mind to create a new breed of priests,” Robredillo said.
“He had also thought of renewing the parishes by inviting the Neo-Catechumenal Movement to the diocese in 1984, beginning with the establishment of neo-catechumenal communities in Borongan and San Julian,” he added.
CBCP service
After resigning as bishop of Borongan in 1986, Cariño served as secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), a post he held until 1994.
He continued to serve as apostolic administrator of Borongan until Bishop Leonardo Medroso took over in 1987.
In 2001, while still serving the CBCP, Cariño was asked by then Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to attend to the pastoral needs of the Ecclesiastical District of Pasig.
He was named auxiliary bishop of Daet in 2003 and bishop of Legazpi in 2005, before stepping down in 2007 at age 69.
“As he goes home, we bring with him our prayers,” Baylon said. “We carry him to the Father with our wish, our fervent prayer, that he may find his reward there in the kingdom where there are no more pains, no more sufferings, no more tears. “
Following the Mass, Cariño was interred inside the cathedral. He served as a priest for 63 years and a bishop for 46 years.
