This is our diocese. This is our local Church. We have grown accustomed to a Diocese of Ozamiz within the confines of Misamis Occidental. 18 years ago the faithful of this area belonged to one local Church with the faithful of what are now the Prelatures of Iligan and Marawi. Two centuries earlier they were part of a vast area served by handful of missionaries.

The Jesuits were the first missionaries of Misamis. They were under the Jesuit Superior of Dapitan. Mindanao then was part of the diocese of Cebu.

The beginnings of organized missionary presence here was something of a historical accident. In 1754 pirates preyed upon the coastal communities of the Philippines burning homes and churches, destroying crops and carrying away people to be sold into slavery. Northern Mindanao was hardest hit. From it came the Captain General of the armada, which was created to patrol its waters, Fr. Jose Ducos, Jesuit missionary of Iligan. At Misamis he constructed the "cotta" whose ruins we see today. He named the fort in honor of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception whose feast is December 8 and in commemoration of the victory (in Spanish "Triunfo" by which he called his flagship) over the Moors at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa on 16 July 1212. Ozamiz has kept these two feasts.

In 1768, at their expulsion, the Agustinian Recollects replaced the Jesuits. The Recoletos built churches in the centers of population.

Misamis prospered and in the mid-1800 was the center of Misamis District, which included present day Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Lanao, Bukidnon and Camiguin. Later the center shifted to Cagayan and from then on Misamis steadily declined.

It was during the Philippine Revolution of 1896 and the years following that Aglipayanism got a foothold among the population. There was then no resident Catholic priests for long periods.

The 1920's saw the departure of the Recoletos. The Spanish Jesuits had come back but they only visited this area from their Iligan base. Fr. Gabriel Font will long be remembered for his tireless zeal during those years until 1932.

In 1927 when the American Jesuits came to take over from the Spanish Jesuits some towns of Misamis Occidental again had resident priests. Their labors bore fruit in certain developments. First, the settlement of legal questions concerning Church property. Second, the establishment of parochial schools and summer catechesis for children. Third, the birth of parish organizations and a return of Catholics to the Sacraments.

On 31 July 1938 the Columbans officially took over from the five Jesuit pastors of 100,000 Catholics. The first Columbans were Fathers Richard Brangan, Thomas Callanan, Francis Chapman, James Corrigan, Patrick Cronin, Peter Fallon, Francis McCullagh, Vincent McFadden, Denis Murphy and Martin Noone. Some of them we are happy to have among us still.

The newcomers had barely settled in when World War II broke out. People moved from the coastal towns into the hills. Their priests moved with them and with them bore the toil and tension of those years. The Sisters were also with the people: the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and the Irish Columbans. The former had come with the Jesuits and the latter with the Columban Fathers.

The post-war period was distinguished by the determination to set up schools for every parish. Many new churches were built and old ones restored or replaced.

In 1948 by an act of Congress Misamis town became Ozamiz City. By then the territory served by Columbans included Lanao to the east and Aurora, Molave and Pagadian to the south.

In 1951 the Prelature of Ozamiz was erected out of Misamis Occidental and Lanao. Father Patrick Cronin, Columban Superior of Mindanao, was named its Apostolic Administrator. In 1955 he was designated its first bishop, a happy choice for no one knew and was known by the prelature better than he.

Monsignor Cronin saw to the construction of the present cathedral designed by Fr. Desmond Morrison and built by Brother Colman. The earthquake in 1995 had destroyed the old cathedral.

The development of the diocesan clergy had great impetus under Bishop Cronin. A minor seminary (St. Mary’s) was established in Ozamiz. Within his term was DXDD was set up, as were the structures to respond to urgent socio-economic needs.

Ozamiz became a diocese clergy February 17, 1971. Bishop Cronin had become Archbishop of Cagayan. Bishop Jesus Y. Varela became the first bishop of Ozamiz Diocese.

By the same document from Pope Paul VI the two Lanao provinces were constituted into the Prelature of Iligan. This remained under the Cagayan jurisdiction while Ozamiz was transferred to Zamboanga.

Under Bishop Varela diocesan and parish structures were strengthened. He paid special attention to formation. Lay participation has had his full encouragement.

In 1977 Ozamiz hosted the third Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference (MSPC ill) as scheduled despite the fire that two weeks before had devastated 21 blocks of the city. Ozamiz has been active in the growth of MSPC in its thrust of building Christian communities since 1971.

Ozamiz belongs to DOPIM (from the first letters of Dipolog, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Iligan and Marawi). DOPIM is born of the earnest effort of five neighboring brother bishops to build community together and their people with them since 1977. One practical consequence of this experience of collegiality at base level is their common program for the formation of ministers, priestIy and others, for

DOPIM.

From a historical perspective Ozamiz' involvement in DOPIM is well in keeping with its roots. On January 24, 1983 Pope John Paul II elevated the Diocese of Ozamiz into an Archdiocese. In addition, the new Ecclesiastical Province of Ozamiz was established, elevating it to a Metropolitan See and assigning, as suffrage’s the Dioceses of Dipolog, Iligan, Pagadian and the Prelature of Marawi.

Most Rev. Bishop Jesus Dosado, C.M., D.D., was promoted and appointed the first Archdiocese of Ozamiz.