28/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE | IFI Central Office
Aglipayan Church to Install New Obispo Maximo
by Rt. Rev. Dindo Ranojo - IFI General Secretary
MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of faithful of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) will galvanize at their National Cathedral on Taft Avenue here on June 29, 2023, for the installation of their new Obispo Maximo, the Most Rev. Joel O. Porlares.
He will be installed as the fourteenth Obispo Maximo of the IFI (also the Philippine Independent Church in English) on the Feast Day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
The IFI is a Catholic church independent from the authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It was proclaimed by labor group Union Obrera Democratica on August 3, 1902. It has some 7 million adherents across 50 dioceses in the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora in the United States and Canada, as well as faith communities in the rest of the world.
Progressive church
The IFI’s first Obispo Maximo is revolutionary leader, Most. Rev. Gregorio Aglipay; thus the moniker, “Aglipayan Church.” Upholding its roots in the liberation movement, it is a nationalist Church with a progressive character.
It has released statements against anti-poor and anti-democratic policies. Many of its members have been victims of human rights violations, including terror-tagging and trumped-up charges. Some, such as former Obispo Maximo Alberto Ramento, were felled in extrajudicial killings linked to their advocacies for vulnerable sectors.
Furthermore, the IFI ordained its first woman priest in 1997. In 2017, its Supreme Council of Bishops released a statement titled, “Our Common Humanity, Our Shared Dignity,” which affirmed LGBTIQ+ faithful and sought support for LGBTIQ+ rights. In 2019, it consecrated its first female bishop, Rt. Rev. Emelyn Gasco-Dacuycuy of the Diocese of Batac. In 2023, it ordained the country’s first out and proud transgender deacon, Rev. Deacon Wowa Ledama of the Diocese of Pagadian.
The Church’s General Assembly (GA), its highest policymaking body, elected Most Rev. Porlares as the Obispo Maximo when it convened on May 7-10, 2023, in Las Piñas City. While the IFI is led by bishops, its structures are synodical, meaning the lay – members of the youth, women and laymen sectors – vote with the ordained. The ordained include not just the bishops but also priests and deacons.
Six-year term
Most Rev. Porlares will serve out a six-year term. The Obispo Maximo “is the Spiritual Head, Chief Pastor, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Church,” according to the IFI’s Constitution and Canons.
He was born in Tacloban City in 1961, and raised in Basey, Samar. His father was a priest of the IFI in the same province. He is married and with three sons. The clergy of the IFI may marry.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Theology from Saint Andrew’s Theological Seminary in Quezon City in 1984 and obtained his master’s degree in Divinity from the same institution in 1989. He has been teaching at Aglipay Central Theological Seminary in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, even serving as its academic coordinator in 1996-99.
Most. Rev. Porlares was ordained into the priesthood in September 1984. He served as a priest in the Dioceses of Greater Manila Area, Western Pangasinan, and Bataan and Bulacan, where he eventually became the diocesan bishop. He was elected General Secretary of the IFI in 2017, serving with his predecessor, the Most Rev. Rhee M. Timbang.
Together with the Obispo Maximo, the GA also elected the Church’s General Secretary, General Treasurer and General Auditor: Rt. Rev. Dindo C. Ranojo, Elena C. Del Mundo and Adela L. Rebollido, respectively. Rt. Rev. Ranojo comes from the Diocese of Tarlac. Del Mundo and Rebollido, both members of the Women of the Philippine Independent Church, hail from the Dioceses of Laguna and Batac.
They will be inducted into office during the June 29 rites, with other officers and members of national councils and commissions.
Ecumenical relations
The IFI is an ecumenical Church with membership to the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, with which Most Rev. Porlares is a vice chair. It has concordat relations with the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, and a covenant of partnership with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. In 2021, the IFI and the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines inked a mutual recognition of baptism, a historic document that signaled reconciliation between the two churches.
The IFI also holds membership to the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches. It maintains concordat relations with The Episcopal Church based in the United States, the Old Catholic Church of the Union of Utrecht, the Church of England, the Church of Sweden and the Anglican Church of Melanesia.
Leaders from its ecumenical partners will also attend the activity.
For more details and other requests, please contact:
Rt. Rev. Dindo Ranojo
Phone number: (+63)998-985-8945
E-mail address: [email protected].
