Knocking three times on the door of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Bishop Nick Vaquilar formally began his ministry Tuesday as the new shepherd of the Diocese of Urdaneta.
Inside, he offered the congregation the four words that have guided his priesthood: “Domine, Tuus Sum” — Latin for “Lord, I am yours.”
By the end of his installation Mass, he turned that motto into a promise for his new flock.
“Beginning today, dear people of the Diocese of Urdaneta,” he said, “I am yours as well.”
Vaquilar said the motto shapes how he sees his new ministry. “I receive this appointment not as a promotion or an honor to be possessed, but as a deeper offer of my life to God and to his people,” he said.
He told the congregation he comes to Urdaneta “not with all the answers, but with a listening heart,” pledging “two ears ready to listen, two hands willing to serve, and one heart that desires to love this diocese as Christ loves his Church.”
Vaquilar, who spent 18 years in ministry in the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia before his transfer, said leaving that community was painful, but the welcome he received in Urdaneta eased his sadness.
“I was no longer simply entering into a new diocese … I was coming home,” he said, drawing applause from the congregation.
Bishop Nick Vaquilar knocks on the door of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Urdaneta City at the start of his installation Mass on July 28, 2026. He was ordained to the episcopate at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad in Bantay, Ilocos Sur, on July 21. ROY LAGARDE
He called for a “truly synodal church where every person feels welcome, valued and loved” and pledged a shared journey with clergy, religious and lay faithful.
“We shall rejoice together. We shall live together. We shall serve together. We shall walk together,” he said, “until we all find our way home.”
He added that he hopes to guide people who “drift upon the vast oceans of indifference, loneliness, woundedness, broken relationships, confusion and uncertainty” toward what he called their true harbor: Christ.
Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, installed Vaquilar as the diocese’s fourth bishop.
In his homily, Brown told Vaquilar his mission is to imitate Christ, the “chief shepherd” who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders and searches for those who stray.
A bishop leading the people of God “must be close to the people of God,” Brown said, describing the Church as a synod — a Greek term meaning a group of people journeying together.
“The bishop walks with his people. He speaks to his people. He leads his people. He listens to his people,” he said.
About 30 other bishops witnessed the ceremony, including Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila and Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, whose archdiocese counts Urdaneta among its five suffragan dioceses.
