Father Bernardino Esguerra, former Brick pastor, dies at 55
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Father Bernardino Esguerra, former pastor of Epiphany Parish, Brick, died Oct. 29 in his native Philippines. He was 55.
Funeral services were held Nov. 2 in the Philippines. In the Diocese of Trenton, a Memorial Mass will be celebrated Nov. 9 in Father Esguerra’s memory, at 3 p.m. in St. Luke Church, 1674 Old Freehold Road, Toms River.
A second Memorial Mass will be held Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More Church, 186 Gordons Corner Road, Manalapan, with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. as principal celebrant.
Father Esguerra was born in 1958 in the Naval Base hospital in Cavite City, Philippines, to Philippine Navy electronic technician Bernardino Esguerra, Sr., and school teacher Corazon Dela Cruz.
He attended Arellano University in the Philippines graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He attended Divine Word Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1987 in St. Nicholas Tolentino Cathedral, in the Philippines, by Bishop Deogracias Yniquez.
He served as administrator, parochial vicar and pastor of St. Cecilia and St. Barbara Parish while he was in the Philippines.
After a decade as a priest in the Philippines, Father Esguerra moved to New York with his family.
Arriving in the Diocese of Trenton in the mid-1990s, Father Esguerra served as a weekend and full-time assistant in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, Lakewood from 1995-1996. He was then transferred to St. Agnes Parish, Atlantic Highlands, where he served until 1998 when he took a leave of absence.
In June 2000, he returned to St. Mary of the Lake Parish and was assigned as adjunct priest in 2001. He was incardinated into the Diocese of Trenton in 2006 by Bishop John M. Smith, and served in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, and St. Agnes Parish, before being assigned to Epiphany Parish as pastor from 2008-2012.
He was also the diocesan moderator of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Rosary Altar and Holy Name Societies.
Father Esguerra, while in the final stages of pancreatic and kidney cancer, left the United States in 2013 to return to his family in the Philippines.
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Father Bernardino Esguerra, former pastor of Epiphany Parish, Brick, died Oct. 29 in his native Philippines. He was 55.
Funeral services were held Nov. 2 in the Philippines. In the Diocese of Trenton, a Memorial Mass will be celebrated Nov. 9 in Father Esguerra’s memory, at 3 p.m. in St. Luke Church, 1674 Old Freehold Road, Toms River.
A second Memorial Mass will be held Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More Church, 186 Gordons Corner Road, Manalapan, with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. as principal celebrant.
Father Esguerra was born in 1958 in the Naval Base hospital in Cavite City, Philippines, to Philippine Navy electronic technician Bernardino Esguerra, Sr., and school teacher Corazon Dela Cruz.
He attended Arellano University in the Philippines graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He attended Divine Word Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1987 in St. Nicholas Tolentino Cathedral, in the Philippines, by Bishop Deogracias Yniquez.
He served as administrator, parochial vicar and pastor of St. Cecilia and St. Barbara Parish while he was in the Philippines.
After a decade as a priest in the Philippines, Father Esguerra moved to New York with his family.
Arriving in the Diocese of Trenton in the mid-1990s, Father Esguerra served as a weekend and full-time assistant in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, Lakewood from 1995-1996. He was then transferred to St. Agnes Parish, Atlantic Highlands, where he served until 1998 when he took a leave of absence.
In June 2000, he returned to St. Mary of the Lake Parish and was assigned as adjunct priest in 2001. He was incardinated into the Diocese of Trenton in 2006 by Bishop John M. Smith, and served in St. Mary of the Lake Parish, and St. Agnes Parish, before being assigned to Epiphany Parish as pastor from 2008-2012.
He was also the diocesan moderator of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Rosary Altar and Holy Name Societies.
Father Esguerra, while in the final stages of pancreatic and kidney cancer, left the United States in 2013 to return to his family in the Philippines.
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