LIKE a good father to his son, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma reached out to suspended priest Fr. Oscar Banzon, asking the latter to see him, should he wish to return to active ministry.
Banzon was suspended from active ministry when he ran for barangay captain in Kawit, Medellin in 2013. He ran for reelection last May 14 but lost.
“If he is contemplating to go back, if he wants, he can come to see me. There is a procedure (for reinstatement that he needs to undergo)”, said Palma.
During the meeting of the Board of Consulters of the archdiocese last Wednesday, Palma asked Msgr. Isidro Ullamot, Episcopal vicar for the north, to relay his message to Banzon, to come for a meeting with him.
But Palma said, if Banzon wishes to return to the fold and be reinstated to active ministry, he would need to undergo a reorientation into the ministry of the priesthood and an ’overhauling’ process which could take around three years
“I had this experience with a priest in Leyte, who was a board member for several years and was suspended. But it was another Bishop, not me. After some years of process, reorientation, we allowed him to return to the ministry,” said Palma during a press conference inside the Archbishop’s residence yesterday.
The priest could be asked to stay at a formation house in Tagaytay for several years for reorientation into the priesthood ministry, after which he will be sent to a community where his intention and determination to go back to the ministry will be assessed and tested.
“It is like he runs today, then he lost, then he goes back, all he does is push up, then he stands up, no … no there is a process, then we will determine,’ he added.
“Normally duna man mi spiritual director, counselors nga mag-journey uban niya…but we have to test, assess if he is sincere,” Bishop Palma said.
In a phone interview with Cebu Daily News, Banzon said he was already expecting that Bishop Palma would still accept him in the ministry, and vowed to undergo any reformation and reorientation activities, just to be reinstated.
“Kahibaw ko, nag-expect nako ana nga decision ni Bishop Palma. Maayo na si Bishop. Wa man siguro’y bishop nga di mayo.
Nalipay ko ana, and willing kaayo ko nga mo go sa mga procedure aron makabalik sa pagkapari,” he told CDN.
(I have expected Palma’s decision. He is a good bishop and I am happy and willing to undergo the procedures for reinstatement.)
He said he will visit the prelate only after he can formally turn over the important documents and the office, in July. His term ends on June 30.
But bishop Palma also reminded him about having a relationship with a woman, “that we have to determine, because if he goes back to the priesthood that should be cleared, the woman should be out of his life,” Palma said.
Banzon, for his part, assured that he is no longer in a relationship with any woman, saying, “ahh wan a gyud na, di nako maibog.”
(I am no longer attracted to women.) /with Futch Anthony Inso, Correspondent and Jaive Ria Z. Agbon, STC Intern.