Father Augusto Acob

By Carrie McClish
Staff writer

During the four months that Father Augusto Acob served St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Livermore as its temporary parochial administrator he formed a close bond with the community. So when the bishop asked him to stay on, his response was immediate. “Without hesitation, I said yes.”

“Any priest who is assigned here will love this parish — the people are just awesome in their warmness,” he told The Voice. He also praised the community of 800 registered families for their dedication and involvement in different ministries. “They are so ‘engaged’ with the parish that the parish is just overflowing and abundant in everything.”

Father Acob, who officially became the parish’s parochial administrator on Nov. 17, brings a wealth of pastoral ministry experiences to his new assignment.
Born in the port city of Tacloban City in the Philippines, he was the eldest child of a doctor and registered nurse who raised two daughters and eight sons.

He entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte, after completing the sixth grade and immediately took to seminary life. “I enjoyed and loved seminary life. I had no problem with the rules, the discipline, the study and all the other activities,” he said.
After completing the high school and college program, earning a degree in philosophy, he enrolled at Immaculate Conception School of Theology at Vigan, Ilocos Sur, in 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Laoag, Ilocos Notre, on April 13, 1980.

From 1980 to 2004 he held a variety of pastoral roles in the Diocese of Laoag, including that of administrator and pastor at several parishes. He was also secretary and president to the priests’ assembly, a member of the bishop’s board of consultors, and superintendent of Catholic schools.

Father Acob came to the Oakland Diocese in 2004 at the urging of his classmate, Father Tito Bonoan, who is chaplain at Moreau High School in Hayward. He offered assistance at St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch and was in residence at St. Jarlath Parish in Oakland before returning to the Philippines in early 2005.

In April of that year he returned to Oakland and in June became parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Pinole where he served as the parish’s liturgy coordinator and faith formation coordinator for youth in grades one to six.

Father Acob said he is eager to learn more about his new parishioners and their numerous ministries. He will draw inspiration from a keynote speech he heard at the recent convocation of diocesan priests where they were challenged to see their main task as leading others to follow Jesus Christ.

“I understood that each of us is called to think, to speak and to act according to how Jesus would think, speak and act,” he said. “This is the spirit that I pray will guide me as administrator of St. Charles Catholic Parish.”

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