The installment was led by Antipolo Bishop Francis de Leon, with his appointment uttered by Rev. Fr. Vicentico Flores. AOY.
Residents of Talim Island, Navotas flocked over Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on Saturday morning. It was on the 3rd of June that Father Moises Villamayor, known by many as Father Mowie, was installed as the new parish priest of the abovementioned parish. The installment was led by Antipolo Bishop Francis de Leon, with his appointment uttered by Rev. Fr. Vicentico Flores. Villamayor has now become the sixth parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. Aside from the regular church-goers, Fr. Mowie’s installation was attended by Angono’s Mayor Gerry Calderon with his daughter Councilor Jerimae Calderon, supporting the very priest that came from their humble town in Rizal.
Rev. Fr. Mowie Villamayor as the newly installed Parish Priest.
Father Mowie feels exuberant prior to his installment. “To have his own parish is the dream of every pastor, I’m happy and grateful being entrusted with a parish,” revealed by the newly-installed parish priest.
Moises Villamayor joined priesthood six years ago, on the 11th of October 2011 to be exact. He realized his calling as a priest before the Jubilee year (2000), when he asked God to make the year a significant one since it’s already his 10th year of serving the church. And it was indeed in the year 2000 that he had a religious experience. “During one prayer moment that God speaks to me by asking me ‘Whom do you love?’ I searched for the answer by looking back to where God leads me in my life. Priesthood was the answer I got.”
He has been assigned to five different parishes, starting off as a deacon at the Antipolo Cathedral, followed by being a deacon and a priest at the Our Lady of Antipolo, going up higher on the ranks as assistant priest back at the Antipolo Cathedral, as assistant priest at the San Ildefonso Parish, and again as assistant priest at our very own Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of Aranzazu. His sixth and recent assignment would be at the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish as the parish priest.
Of all the parishes he’s been to, Father Mowie claims to have DSPNSDA as the closest to his heart. When asked what he misses most about the NSDA parish, he truthfully answers “The love and devotion of the people that is so alive,” referring to the people of San Mateo.
“To be able to guide people towards God with faith that is genuine,” is what Father Mowie dreams and plans as a priest. To add, Villamayor proclaims, “To see the church as the path towards that dream.” He encourages the youth to enter the seminary by giving a piece of advice, and that is to prepare themselves for a life of service and self-giving to God and men. (Kristine Tuting)
