Pastoral Message of Archbishop Socrates B Villegas My dear People of God in the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan: Today, we stand at the threshold of 2026. As the world celebrates a new calendar year, we as a local Church stand at a significant crossroads. We are now exactly two years away from the great centenary of the Diocese of Lingayen in 2028. This milestone is not merely a look backward at our history, but a clarion call to look forward. To prepare our hearts for this hundred-year jubilee, our theme for this year is pasimbalo—a Pangasinan word for renewal that literally means making things new again in Christ. The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, is the perfect lens through […]

Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas has recently published a 232-page book of homilies delivered during the COVID19 lockdown months entitled “Where is HE?”–Blessings from Distance and Absence. The book is available at the CSI Malls, at selected Catholic book stores and from the Arzobispado de Lingayen Dagupan. The book is priced at PhP250.00 per copy or PhP200.00 per bulk orders of at least 10 copies. The proceeds of the book sale will go to the Mary Help of Christians Seminary Scholarship Burse. Limited copies only!

HOLY THURSDAY REFLECTIONS FOR MY BROTHER PRIESTS, 2025 We will remember again later this evening what the Lord did and said in the Upper Room the night before He suffered and died. This is my Body. This is my Blood. Remember Me. We are the fruits of those words. We are the heirs of that mandate. Were there women at the Last Supper? The Gospels do not mention any women but I believe in my heart that there was at least one woman in the Upper Room that evening—Mary the mother of the Lord. If not physically, certainly spiritually, Mary was there. She, who gave Jesus her body and blood from her womb for nine months, cannot be absent. Mary, […]

  WHEN PRIESTS CRY…   Meditation by Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan, on the occasion of Chrism Mass on March 28, 2024 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City   Beloved brothers in Christ:   Today as we gather again to remember the memorable day of our ordination, let us make a spiritual journey to those months preceding our ordination when we were scrutinized about our suitability for priestly ministry. The seminary fathers questioned our maturity and tested our capacity to understand, retain and transmit the basics of theology, canon law and liturgy. They assessed us for our pastoral sensibility and evaluated our pastoral qualities, eloquence, emotional quotient, orthodoxy and piety.   Today when […]