Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in San Jose, California, is shown in a 2012 photo. (OSV News/public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
by OSV News
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Pope Leo XIV has appointed Fr. Andres "Andy" Ligot as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San Jose, California.
The appointment was announced Aug. 29 in Washington by Msgr. Veceslav Tumir, chargé d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature, in the temporary absence of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The bishop-designate is a priest of the Diocese of San Jose and currently serves as vicar general and chancellor of the diocese and as pastor of St. Elizabeth of Portugal Parish in Milpitas, California.
Ligot, 59, comes from Laoag City, Philippines. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1992, for the Diocese of Laoag and was incardinated into the Diocese of San Jose on March 30, 2004.
Multilingual Ligot studied at San Pablo College Seminary in Baguio City in his homeland, graduating in 1986 with a degree in philosophy. He attended seminary at Colegio Eclesiástico Internacional Bidasoa in Pamplona, Spain, and received a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the Filipino capital, in 1988. He speaks Tagalog, Ilocano, Spanish, and English.
Ligot also studied at the University of Navarre in Pamplona, receiving a bachelor's degree in sacred theology, a master's degree in theology, a licentiate canon law and a doctorate in canon law over the course of seven years.
Ligot's assignments after ordination include diocesan and national roles in the Philippines, including parochial vicar at St. Andrew Parish in Bacarra Ilocos Norte early in his priesthood, and from 1992 to 1995, he served as national coordinator for "Evangelization 2000" — a universal church project aimed to rejuvenate and spread the Christian faith in anticipation of the third millennium.
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He was also director of the national office for Catholic School of Evangelization for Asia in Manila, parochial vicar at St. William Cathedral in Laoag City, and director of the Diocese of Laoag's Commission on Christian Education.
From 1995 to 1999, he served as director of the Casa Sacerdotal Padre Baraee and chaplain of the University Medical Center at Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona.
In 1999, Ligot was given permission by his bishop in Laoag to minister in California, and he served as a chaplain at the Veterans Medical Center in San Francisco and as a visiting priest at Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park.
He served in the tribunal for the Diocese of San Jose as defender of the bond and judge early on during his presence in the diocese, and later he was parochial vicar at St. John Vianney Parish in San Jose, pastor at St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Santa Clara and judicial vicar for the diocese.
Ligot has been pastor of St. Elizabeth of Portugal Parish in Milpitas since 2021, and vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of San Jose since 2023.
The Diocese of San Jose comprises 1,300 square miles in the state of California and has a total population of just over 1.9 million, of which 513,000 are Catholic.
