Bishop Darío Quintana received his episcopal ordination in the cathedral of Mar de Plata accompanied by the faithful of the new diocese of which he will be the auxiliary bishop.
It had been more than forty years since the Argentinean diocese of Mar del Plata had an auxiliary bishop – it was, for some months, Bishop Rómulo García. Perhaps for this reason, last Saturday, December 28th, dozens of faithful packed the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Cecilia to accompany the new Augustinian Recollect Bishop, Monsignor Dario Ruben Quintana, in his episcopal ordination. The religious will be the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Mar del Plata, accompanying Bishop Gabriel Antonio Mestre in his pastoral work.
Monsignor Quintana was also accompanied by bishops and Augustinian Recollect religious who were with the new pastor of the Church at this important moment. Sitting at his side were the Prior General, Miguel Miro, and the Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova, Miguel Angel Hernandez. Also among the 17 bishops present were the Augustinian Recollects, Bishop Jesús María Cizaurre, Bishop Emiliano Cisneros, Bishop Carlos María Domínguez and Bishop José Luis Azcona, the latter as co-consecrating bishop.
The hands of the bishops who concelebrated the Eucharist were laid on the shepherd. It was after he had prostrated himself before the altar during the litany of the saints, as the liturgy indicates. He was then anointed with Sacred Chrism and was given the Gospels, the ring, miter and the pastoral staff. A unanimous ovation from those present received Mons. Dario Quintana in the episcopal college, prior to the embrace with all the bishops present.
Before the rite of ordination, the vicar provincial in Argentina, the Augustinian Recollect Daniel Medina, read the Apostolic Command of Pope Francis which ordained the new auxiliary bishop.
“Thank you, Lord, for calling me to this church”
After being ordained bishop and having imparted his first blessing to the people of God, Monsignor Dario Quintana directed an emotional thanksgiving to God. He began by giving thanks for his own life, “an undeserved and beautiful gift that must be valued and protected from the first moment. He thanked his family for their support and affection as he travelled through his childhood and adolescence until he began his vocation: “I was satisfied with the grace of God until he came out to meet my freedom by changing my horizons and more human projects”.
He summarized his life as “a search for the will of God and an encounter with his presence and mercy”, since he was called to the Augustinian Recollect consecrated life. He especially thanked the Order of Augustinian Recollects and the religious who accompanied him. He also showed his joy at returning to Mar del Plata, the city that welcomed him as a child, and his diocese, which has a “great range of adverse and challenging realities”.
He reviewed and thanked the bishops – especially Monsignor Mestre – the priests and the laity, and he affirmed: “Thank you, Lord, because you called me to this Church”. He concluded his first words as bishop by placing his new pastoral work in the hands of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. “I know that I have placed my hope in God and that I will not be disappointed,” he said.
“Very deep lives and stories that claim to be shepherded”
The Bishop of Mar del Plata, Monsignor Gabriel Mestre, who was in charge of consecrating Bishop Darío Quintana, asked the new bishop to be a “man of faith” and a “true witness of the Resurrection of Christ” in the midst of the difficulties and challenges of the Church of Mar del Plata.
Concretely, Monsignor Mestre advised the newly ordained bishop to give an “essential and totally theological” value to the People of God, which he will have to accompany as auxiliary bishop. “They are very concrete faces that expect from you the presence of the only shepherd, who is our Lord Jesus Christ; in these faces are interwoven lives and very profound stories that claim to be shepherded,” he indicated.
At the beginning of the Eucharist, the Prior General ‘handed over’ – in a figurative sense – the religious to the diocese. We are sorry for his departure,” he said, “but we are happy and hopeful that Fr. He asked him to look at the example of three exemplary bishops: Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas of Villanova and Saint Ezekiel Moreno.