Story By Georgene Quilaton-Tambiga
Photos By Grace Ann Libre, CVPro
Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza, D.D., Bishop of San Carlos, is no stranger to Thomasians. Back in 2022, Bishop Gerry, as he is fondly called by his flock, presided over the Mass of the Holy Spirit in September and in October, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to more than a hundred Thomasians.
But this time, on the most special occasion of the feast day of St. Thomas of Villanova, on October 10, 2026, he spoke to Thomasians on a very personally profound and deeply challenging manner.
Before a crowd of more than a thousand Thomasians at the CST-R Quadrangle, Bishop Alminaza manifested what the future could hold for every Thomasian.
“I am reminded that I am facing perhaps the future Bishop of San Carlos or the next president of CST-R or its faculty and staff or the future mayor of our city or town or the leaders of the community,” the Bishop thus opened his homily during the Thanksgiving Mass in honor of the school’s patron saint.
This statement he intended as a provocation for the Thomasians, as young as eleven or twelve years old, that “that’s how God sees us, not only based on our past or present but even [based on] our potentials.”
Given Bishop Alminaza’s socio-environmental campaigns, he made good use of the homily to highlight on the value of “truth,” which is prominent in this year’s theme: Accompanying Thomasians to the Truth through Recollect Education.
He gave a zoomed in view of the ongoing Impeachment Trial against the Vice-President, particularly the proceeding the day before, October 9, 2026. He focused on “the skill on display” during the trial including the preparations and the efforts to make complicated materials, like financial records, data and transactions, simple and understandable for the ordinary Filipino. The Bishop added that this super embossed the value of Truth in relation to today’s pressing socio-economic-environmental milieu. But this also challenged Thomasians to acquire and develop critical thinking, a skill that Bishop Alminaza described as “a very important skill needed today.”
In conclusion, the Bishop of San Carlos dared the Thomasian community in three clear and precise points even as the fiesta was being celebrated:
“What kind of people and professionals does our society need today? 1) Could we dream of forming entrepreneurs who understand that trust is essential to every sound enterprise, people who keep honest accounts, treat workers fairly, and [who] use business to create value for the community? 2) Could we form criminologists and investigators who know how to examine evidences carefully, ask the right questions, respect the rights of every person and resist rushing to judgment?”
3) He also hoped that Thomasians from the Basic Education Department would “have the necessary foundation so that whatever profession or career you may choose you will indeed imbibe the virtues and examples of St. Thomas of Villanova.”
