The Master of the Order, fr Bruno Cador has formally appointed fr Gaspar de ROJA SIGAYA as the new archivist of the Order. He is of the Province of the Philippines and he succeeds fr Gerardo Wilmer Rojas Crespo.
Fr Gaspar was born at Zarraga, Iloilo, Philippines. He entered the Order in 1987 and made his first religious profession of vows in 1991. In 1997, he was ordained to the priesthood. After his basic studies in philosophy and theology, he studied Library and Information Science at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. He specialized in Archives.
He has been the Archivist and Chronicler of the Province of the Philippines since 1998. He was the founder and first president of the Society of Ecclesiastical Archivists of the Philippines under the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Permanent Committee for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. He has conducted several seminars and workshops on the preservation and conservation of archival materials in the Philippines.
Fr Gasper is very passionate about the conservation of ecclesiastical records. He brings this passion to his new office as the archivist of the Order. According to him, his vision as the archivist of the Order is:
To come up with One Dominican Standard Archival Description.
To integrate subjects concerning archives in the formation of future Dominicans.
To assist in the establishment of archives in the different provinces of the Order.
To encourage friars to use archives materials for preaching.
To train and support interested friars in the archives profession.
(18 November 2013)
