Bishop Raul Celebrates 80th Birthday

Bishop Raul Q. Martirez, former Bishop-Emeritus of San Jose de Antique and now retired guest bishop at Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows, celebrated his 80th birthday last February 9, a Friday.

In a joyous Eucharistic mass at 7 am at the Divine Mercy Chapel, Bishop Raul celebrated his thanksgiving mass, assisted by Fr. Bong Tupino, Msgr. Tony Mortillero, and Fr. Ricky Montañez. The mass was followed by a breakfast salusalo at the convent veranda.

A special guest of Bishop Raul was Msgr. Dan Sta . Maria , former parish CTK priest and recently-retired Vicar General and Moderator for the Cubao Diocese.

He had so many well-wishers that it took Bishop Raul 20 minutes to navigate the short distance from the chapel door to the veranda.

Bishop Raul gamely went through each of the tables to have his picture taken with the different groups. When the parish staff brought out the birthday cake, Bishop Raul was warmly surrounded and congratulated by Fr. Bong, Msgr. Morti, Msgr. Dan, and Fr. Ricky. They loudly sang ‘Happy Birthday’ as Bishop Raul blew out the solitary candle. It was clearly a testimony to his popularity that Bishop Raul was only able to sit down with family members and eat at 9 am.

In 2002, at the age of 65, Bishop Raul took official retirement and spent a year with his parents before joining CTK as its resident retired bishop – and he’s been associated with Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows for the last 15 years. Despite his 80 years of age, Bishop Raul continues to assist with CTK affairs, celebrating one or two masses every weekend, celebrating the occasional daily mass, officiating at some weddings, baptisms, confession sessions, etc. Up to 2015, Bishop Raul also regularly acted as Pilgrimage Chaplain for the annual European and Holy Land pilgrimages led by CTK. His unmatched knowledge and deep background into biblical history and pilgrimage geography had made him much sought-after as pilgrimage chaplain.