On Saturday, the 12th of February 2011, at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Juticalpa (Honduras), there will be the Ceremony of the Episcopal Ordination of H.L. Bishop Joseph Bonello who was appointed Bishop of Juticalpa in November 2010.

Fr. Joseph Bonello ofm. was born on the 4th of April 1961, in Xaghra, Gozo. Son of Victor and Nazzarena Sultana (both deceased), the third of four children he joined the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) on 2nd October 1977, made his Temporary Profession on 1st October 1978 and Solemn Profession on 28th August 1983. He was ordained deacon on 29th June 1984, and priest on 7th July 1985, by the imposition of hands of the then Archbishop of Malta, His Excellency Msgr. Joseph Mercieca.

Fr. Joseph studied at the Primary School of Xaghra and did his secondary education at Xaghra, Victoria and Hamrun. He studied philosophy and theology at the National Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies of Maltese Religious (INSERM) in Hamrun.

Immediately after ordination he served as Provincial Promotor of Vocations, Master of Postulants, and Provincial Definitor of the Franciscan Province of Saint Paul the Apostle in Malta. Since September 1989 he has been working as a missionary in Central America at the Parish of Santa Ana de La Libertad in the Diocese of Comayagua, first for three years as Assistant Pastor and later as Pastor. Nominated as Coadjutor Bishop of Juticalpa, he will now be moving to Olancho, where there is Fr. Albert Gauci ofm, from Ghargur.

During this time he was three times councilor for the Franciscan Foundation in Central America of the Immaculate Conception Province, New York. On the 13th November 2009, he was nominated by His Excellency Mgr. Bishop Robert Camilleri ofm, as Vicar General of the Diocese of Comayagua. Fr. Joseph spent his priestly life accompanying the faithful in their faith promoting human dignity and sustaining education, art and formation of workers. His aim has been to forge a more human society so that it may become more Christian. He chose as motto for his new Ministry “Patientia Omnia Potest” (For Patience everything is possible) because experience has taught him that patience is the greatest virtue necessary to obtain what is good and aspire to what is better: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction” (2Tim 4:2).

Fr. Joseph will be consecrated Bishop on Saturday, the 12th of February 2011. Present for this memorable occasion will be Rev. Mgr. Carmelo Refalo, the Xaghra Archpriest, which is currently on a pastoral visit to the Xaghra emigrants in Toronto (Canada) and United States.

Bishop Joe Bonello will be in Gozo during the coming month. The apex of his visit will be reached on Sunday, the 6th of March 2011 in Xaghra. He will be accompanied by the Victory Philharmonic Society from the town’s main entry to the Collegiate Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lady where he will preside a Solemn Pontifical Mass at 11am followed by a luncheon in his honour.

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