Top photo caption: Monitor file photo
Divine Word Father Pelagio Pateno has recently retired as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Lakewood. He will continue to serve the parish as a retired priest in residence and be involved in various ministries.
Father Pateno was born in 1949 in the Philippines. He graduated from Stella Maris College, Oroquieta City, with a bachelor’s degree in education. As a young student, his vocation was inspired by the Columban Fathers for whom he worked, helping to prepare the medicines and the Mass kits they used when they ministered to faithful in the remote, mountain areas of the country.
Father Pateno studied for the priesthood in the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, and was ordained Dec. 19, 1987. He was first assigned to the provincial house in Manila, followed by a three-year term as chaplain in Divine Word College on the island of Mindoro.
In 2003, he began serving the Latino community in the United States. He was assigned to the Chicago Province, before his appointment to St. Anthony Claret Parish, Lakewood, which is now part of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.