Bishop Raul Celebrates 79th Birthday
Bishop Raul Q. Martirez, former Bishop-Emeritus of San Jose de Antique and now retired guest bishop a t Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows, celebrated his 79th birthday last February 9.
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. Serge Maniba. The mass was followed by a breakfast salusalo. He had so many 
well-wishers, right out of the chapel door all the way to the entrance of the Formation Center that it took Bishop Raul more than 15 minutes to get to the Formation Center entrance. Then it took him another 25 minutes to make his was to the door of Matthew and Mark rooms were all the tables were occupied, with tables set up even in the hallway. Inside, the parishioners still couldn’t get enough of the superamiable bishop as he was being tugged this way and that by different groups wishing to have their picture taken with him. He even had two female serenaders. He also had to blow the candles from two different birthday cakes. It was clearly a testimony to his popularity that Bishop Raul was only able to sit down and eat some goto 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 79 years of age, Bishop Raul continues to assist with CTK affairs, celebrating one or two masses ever y weekend, celebrating the occasional daily masses, officiating at some weddings, baptisms, confession sessions, etc. Up to 2015, Bishop Raul also regularly Bishop Raul Celebrates 79th Birthday 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. One thing’s for sure – Bishop Raul’s many parishioner friends can’t wait to celebrate his 80th birthday 325 days from now.
