The outgoing Provincial Superior relinquished the office to the new Provincial Superior of the Philippine SVD Southern Province; the new Provincial Superior began his term of office on 1 September;  the outgoing Provincial Superior is the new Superior General of the SVD worldwide. He was elected during the recent SVD General Assembly held in Rome last July. He will start his 6-year term of office in Rome on 29 September.

Fr. Eduardo Rocha, SVD, the new Provincial Superior, was warmly welcomed by the members of the Philippine SVD Southern Province who gathered at the University of San Carlos for the Provincial Assembly on Thursday, 6 September 2012. During the same occasion Fr. Heinz Kulüke, SVD, was thanked profusely for his many years of able leadership and missionary service in the Philippine SVD Southern Province, which covers SVD stations in Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Surigao-Agusan, Davao, Aklan and Zamboanga Sibugay.

Fr. Rocha hails from Tagbilaran City. Among other assignments, he was Vice President for Administration at University of San Carlos, Holy Name University and the former Divine Word University of Tacloban. He acquired pastoral experience in his assingments in several former SVD parishes in Surigao del Norte and worked on mission animation and chaplaincy for Filipinos in Padua and Vicenza, Italy for some years. Fr. Rocha assumed various other SVD administrative and pastoral positions in Visayas and Mindanao. He was the Vice Provincial since 2005 until his new appointment as the new Provincial Superior. Fr. Rocha was ordained priest at Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City in 1979.  He holds a master’s degree in Philosophy from the same seminary.

The incoming Superior General, Fr. Kulüke, will soon be leaving Cebu to assume the highest leadership position in the entire Society of the Divine Word. The SVD Generalate government is based in Rome, Italy. Fr. Kulüke arrived in Cebu as a young priest in 1986.  He will soon be leading the more than 6,000-strong Divine Word Missionaries working in at least 70 countries all over the world, including the Philippines.

Fr. Kulüke had been an ex-officio member of the USC Board of Trustees from June 2005 until the end of his term as Provincial Superior. He was the Provincial Superior of SVD Southern Province since January 2005, and was its Vice Provincial Superior for eight years. Fr. Kulüke formerly served as Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of San Carlos and taught Philosophy classes. He studied Philosophy and Theology at St. Augustine Mission Seminary and various universities in Bonn, Frankfurt and Munich in Germany; he acquired his Master’s degree. in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America, Washington DC, as well as PhD degree in Philosophy from Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.

Ave, Fr. Rocha. Vale, Fr. Kulüke.

Source: Office of External Affairs
7 September 2012