Abu Dhabi.
Fr. Luis Anthony Lacson, an incardinated priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, passed away on 24 June 2022 in Oak Hill, West Virginia. He was 74.
Born on 13 June 1948, in Iloilo City, Philippines, to Eduardo and Fanny (Ledesma), Fr. Lacson attended Manila University in the Philippines, from 1967-1971, and Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1984 to 1986. He also attended Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, from 1983 to 1986, and the Pontifical Urban University in Rome from 1987 to 1992. He received a Master of Divinity and Doctorate in Canon Law.
Fr. Lacson was incardinated in the Vicariate on 27 September 1986 and ordained to the priesthood on 20 December 1986, in Bacolod, Philippines, for the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia. After a short period of service in the Vicariate in Dubai and Bahrain from September 1992 to October 1993, Fr. Lacson took a leave of absence to serve in the USA.
Fr. Lacson worked in the tribunal offices in different dioceses of the United States, and then as hospital chaplain, first in a public hospital, then in a retirement home for priests. He was a member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. He became a U.S. citizen in 2005.
Since 2013, Fr. Lacson served in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, as chaplain of Wheeling Hospital from 2013 to 2015. He was then appointed administrator of St. Peter Parish in Welch, Sacred Heart Parish in Powhatan, Our Lady of Victory Parish in Gary, and Christ the King Parish in War in 2015, where he served from 2016 to 2019.
On 19 June 2019, he received a new assignment within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston as Assistant Priest of two parishes with residence at the rectory in Harrisville, West Virginia, U.S.A.
His last assignment was at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish at Oak Hill, where he served as the Administrator since 2020.
Funeral
The funeral ceremony will take place on 28 June, at 11 am at Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Oak Hill, and will be presided by Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, the bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.