|
|
|
|
|
News
| Economy
| Culture
| Opinion
| Lifestyle
| Nature |
Volume
16, Number 5 |
newsAlso in
the news section:  Monsignior Ulloa, right, rising to the post of archbishop. Photo by Panorama Catolico
Ulloa's first homily as archbishop pleads to
end the violence
José
Domingo Ulloa becomes the Catholic Archbishop of Panama
by Eric Jackson Enough
of the violence! Enough of the loss of innocent lives! Enough of
mothers who cry inconsolably for their sons, husbands, brothers and
fathers! Enough of being caged behind bars of fear!
Archbishop
José Domingo Ulloa
On April 17 54-year-old José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta was promoted from auxiliary bishop to Archibishop of Panama. It's a post that within the church is arguably first among equals among the Catholic bishops here but because the metro Panama area is home to nearly about half of the country's population and includes the capital it makes him the principal spokesman for our overwhelming Catholic majority. He succeeds José Dimas Cedeño, who had served as archbishop since 1994 and is seen by some as a "transitional" leader and others as something more or less. When the split between conservatives and liberation theology advocates approached the point of a formal schism in many Latin American countries, this country had the Panagringo Archbishop Marco McGrath to keep the peace between the factions, respond to the challenges of a military dictatorship and lead the flock through the transition to formal democracy. Cedeño took over a nominally Catholic, nominally democratic country under the sway of corrupt elected officials who operated within the framework of the dictatorship's constitution, and his frequent calls for more honest government were largely ignored. Meanwhile, the Vatican was moving to the right in many respects, both theologically and politically and despite his denunciations of corruption, Cedeño leaned toward the political and economic elites for the church's social alliances and oversaw the purge of liberation theology people from a number of church positions. The most notable actions he took against the left wing of the church were the firing of Hector Endara Hill after nearly a quarter-century in charge of the CARITAS Social Ministry and subsequent gutting of that organization, and the expulsion of the Claretian missionaries in western Colon and northern Cocle provinces as a show of support for Richard Fifer and the Petaquilla gold mine. Ulloa, whatever his opinion about or role in the church infighting, has not been personally identified with it. While some of the liberation theology Catholics had critical things to say about Cedeño's tenure, so far they have not been saying unflattering things about Ulloa. From Chitre, he was educated in public schools in the Azuero, concentrating on learning agriculture as a high school student. He did his seminary studies at the Seminario Mayor San Jose in Panama City, and at the adjacent Universidad Santa Maria la Antigua (USMA). He was ordained in 1983 and began his clerical duties as parish priest in Guarare. In 1987 he joined the Order of St. Augustine as a novice and took his vows as an Augustinian friar in 1991. Ulloa went for graduate studies to the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas and the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, earning degrees in church law and theology. He came back to Panama and held various teaching, family counseling and parish priestly positions, before being ordained as an auxiliary bishop in 2004. As a bishop he served as the secretary general of the Panamanian Episcopal Council. At his first mass as archbishop, Ulloa not only called for an end to the violence that's gripping much of Panamanian society but also noted that he finds a church that's traveling "between lights and shadows, accomplishments and failures, optimism and uncertainty." He said he wants to be a "healthy archbishop" who instills ethics and Christian values in all spheres of society. Also in
the news section: News
| Economy
| Culture
| Opinion
| Lifestyle
| Nature
Panama Vacations
|
||||||||||
|
© 2010 by Eric Jackson email: editor@thepanamanews.com or e_l_jackson_malo@yahoo.com Mailing
address: |
|
|
||||||||
