Cubao Cathedral (formal title: The Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao), is a

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cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

located in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,960,048 people. It was foun ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

, the

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. It is the

episcopal seat A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

of the

Bishop of Cubao. Built in 1950 by the

Society of the Divine Word The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Ri ...

, it belonged to the order until 1990, when the

Archdiocese of Manila In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

took over its administration. In 2003, when the

Diocese of Cubao The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao (Latin: ''Dioecesis Cubaoensis'') is a diocese of the western Latin Church of the Catholic Church in district of Cubao in Quezon City, in northern Metro Manila, Philippines. The diocese was created by Pope Jo ...

was erected, the parish was elevated into the status of cathedral. The present rector of the cathedral is Rev. Fr. Dennis S. Soriano,

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, Lit.

History

In 1935, the SVD priests of Christ the King Mission Seminary began ministering to a limited farming community around Manga Road in Cubao by first celebrating

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

in a small chapel near the present Cubao roundabout. Fr. Henry Demond, SVD, then celebrated Mass in the house of a certain Carbonell family, then moved to a quonset

mess hall The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

from the

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that stood on what are now Spencer and Brooklyn streets. The building was abandoned by the combined US-Philippine Commonwealth Armed Forces. As with other agrarian communities, farmers tilling the area's rice paddies invoked San Isidro Labrador, so the chapel was dedicated to him and belonged to Sacred Heart Parish in the Kamuníng area. While teaching as theology professor at Christ the King Mission Seminary (and later as Prefect of Scholastics), Fr. Ambrosio Manaligod and Ronnie Ganancias consistently helped with the pastoral work of the parish, especially in directing lay organisations. In 1949, the chapel was re-dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. On 15 July 1950, the community chapel was elevated into a parish, with the first ''curé'' being the

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Fr. Juan Simón (1950–1954); he was succeeded by the

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Fr. Alois Vogel (1954-1956) and Fr. Benito Rixner (1956–1958). For years, the parish remained under the SVD, as it was near the order's main residence at Christ the King Mission Seminary. In 1989, the SVD offered the parish to the Archdiocese of Manila in keeping with the missionary spirit found in their constitutions. The official handover took place on

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, 1990, with Msgr. Reynaldo Celso as the first

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

or diocesan parish priest. Due to an increase in the population of Catholics in

, the Archdiocese was gradually partitioned, with the Diocese of Cubao erected on 28 August 2003. The parish was selected to be the see for the new bishop, and extensive renovations on the church were carried out soon after. On December 30, 2014,

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, actor

Dingdong Dantes Jose Sixto Raphael Gonzalez Dantes III (born August 2, 1980), professionally known as Dingdong Dantes (), is a Filipino actor, television presenter, dancer, commercial model and film producer who is currently working as an exclusive talent of ...

and actress

Marian Rivera Marian Rivera Gracia-Dantes (; born 12 August 1984) is a Filipino recording artist, actress, and commercial model. She gained prominence as a widely-acclaimed actress for her roles in ''MariMar'', '' Dyesebel'', '' Amaya'', '' Darna'' and '' T ...

were married at Cubao Cathedral, where Dantes was christened. Considered one of the most expensive church weddings held in the country, guests included then-

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Benigno S. Aquino III as the principal sponsor, other politicians, the couple's colleagues from the television and film industry, and various celebrities.

Ecclesiastical territory

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral once belonged to the

, but is now the seat of the

. However, it is currently remains a parish in its own right as a part of the

Vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of the Holy Family.

Parochial bounds

The parish itself is bounded to the north by a creek running Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. and Ermín García Avenues; to the east by

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; to the south by Col. Bonny Serrano Avenue (Santolan Road); and to the southwest by a small portion of Ermitaño Creek, parts of Horseshoe Village, N. Domingo Street and Balete Drive. Surrounding parishes are Sacred Heart to the north; Nativity of Our Lord and Our Lady of Perpetual Help to the east; and the Minor Basilica Our Lady of Mount Carmel to the west. To the south is San Juan, which is under the jurisdiction of the

Parish Priests

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Below is a list of parish priests, and upon the church's elevation to

in 2003,

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

s. Society of the Divine Word administration Diocesan administration

Resources

* Ecclesiastical Atlas Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao (2010) *The 2008–2009 Catholic Directory of the Philippines (published by Claretian Publications for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, June 2008)

External links