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| Bishop Emeritus Miguel C. Cinches of Surigao (left), seen here with Bishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle, died on April 12 |
CATHOLICS in the city of Surigao bid farewell to “jolly” Bishop Miguel Cinches of the Society of the Divine Word who died on April 12 after a colorful ministry that included confrontations with a group he considered a religious sect in the southern Philippines.
The bishop’s body will lie in state at the society’s Christ the King Seminary until the morning of April 15 when it will be transferred to Surigao City for burial.
Bishop Cinches died, aged 78, after a heart attack, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines announced.
The report said he will be remembered as the “jolly” bishop.
Ordained an SVD priest in 1961, he was appointed bishop of Surigao in 1973 before the diocese was split in two. His ministry as bishop ended there when he resigned in 2001 at age 69 due to poor health.
Bishop Cinches made news for his struggle with the Philippine Benevolent Missionary Association (PBMA), a local sect founded by Ruben Ecleo Sr., on Dinagat island.
Ecleo headed the group from 1965 until his death in 1987.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the late bishop and his clergy issued pastoral letters declaring the group a “religious sect” for preaching doctrines contrary to Christianity. They urged Catholics to break away from the group whose founder they called a “divine” leader.
Ecleo’s daughter, Mayor Gwendolyn Ecleo of Dinagat recalls Bishop Cinches refusing her mother Holy Communion. The mayor claims the bishop later wrote her to apologize.
She said her family had “resolved its differences” with the bishop. Despite the past struggles, her family was “saddened” to hear of the bishop’s death, the mayor told UCA News April 14.
PBMA is often misunderstood, she added, asserting “it is not a religion but a fraternity to help those in need.”
The group is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1965 as a non-stock, non-sectarian association primarily aimed at “carrying out works of charity.” It claims to have 1 million members nationwide.
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