Nearly every pew was filled with attendees Friday inside downtown’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament as the Catholic Church ordained Auxiliary Bishop Rey Bersabal, who became the fifth Filipino to be ordained as a bishop in the United States.

“I’m hoping we continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder in serving the people of God in Sacramento,” Bersabal said at the conclusion of a two-hour ordination ceremony held at the cathedral on 11th Street.

Bersabal, 59, speaks English, Tagalog, Visayan and Spanish. Since 2012, he has been the liaison in the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento for the Filipino presbyterate, or priesthood.

Bishop Jaime Soto, who presided over Friday’s ceremony, welcomed Bersabal into the college of bishops, many of whom traveled to Sacramento from throughout California and as far as Philadelphia and the Philippines.

“To provide us with another coworker,” Soto said during the ceremony. “To unite us under the Lord.“

Bersabal joined the Diocese of Sacramento in 1999 at the invitation of Bishop Emeritus William K. Weigand, serving in multiple parishes and capacities, including parochial vicar, pastor and dean across several parishes. He also has served on the diocesan priests’ personnel board, liturgical commission and independent review board.

He has served as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in midtown since July 2022, and he will continue in this role while serving as vicar general of the diocese, which serves Catholics across interior California from the capital to the Oregon border.

“I join you in your happiness today,” said Cardinal Christophe Louis Yves Georges Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. on hand to read an official letter from Pope Francis elevating Bersabal.

Bersabal was born in Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental in the Philippines; the youngest of three children. His family’s deep faith inspired his choice to join the priesthood.

He attended both Catholic and public schools, before entering the seminary of San Jose de Mindanao in the Philippines. Bersabal later obtained a degree in philosophy from Ateneo de Cagayan Xavier University in his home country.

Bersabal was ordained as a priest in April 1991, for the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro — holding various roles including parochial vicar, parish administrator and parish priest. He served as chancellor, archdiocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and assessor of marriage cases for the metropolitan tribunal.