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Events lined up for 500th anniversary of PH Christianity in Cebu

By Fe Marie Dumaboc

November 14, 2019, 6:04 pm

<p><strong>500 YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY.</strong> Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles (second from left) sits with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma (center), internationally-renowned designer Kenneth Cobonpue (fourth from left), and Fr. Mhar Balili (left), and Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones (right) in a press briefing at the Oakridge Pavilion in Mandaue City on Wednesday (Nov. 13, 2019). Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, bared the series of events leading to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Christian faith in the country in 2021. <em>(PNA photo by Fe Marie Dumaboc)</em></p>

500 YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY. Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles (second from left) sits with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma (center), internationally-renowned designer Kenneth Cobonpue (fourth from left), and Fr. Mhar Balili (left), and Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones (right) in a press briefing at the Oakridge Pavilion in Mandaue City on Wednesday (Nov. 13, 2019). Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, bared the series of events leading to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Christian faith in the country in 2021. (PNA photo by Fe Marie Dumaboc)

CEBU CITY – The Roman Catholic Church in the country has bared the series of events to highlight the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christianization in the Philippines that started in Cebu peninsula.

Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in a press briefing on Wednesday at the Oakridge Pavillion in Mandaue City, said among these is the launching of a coffee table book that will tell the story of the birth of Christianity in the Philippine archipelago.

Valles also announced the scheduled National Mission Congress on April 12 to 16, 2020, which will emphasize two important features that will make the Catholic faithful realize “how gifted we are and that would move all of us to give”, following the theme “Gifted to give”.

“Among the activities that CBCP has organized for this great year 2021 is to organize a symposium for the academe. We have the theme song. But the highlights would be to recall the first recorded Easter mass in the Philippines, which would be in 2021. Take note of this, it would be celebrated all over the country, why? It is Easter Sunday," Valles said.

Fr. Mhar Balili, secretary general for the said congress, said they are expecting around 10,000 people from all over the country to participate in the gathering here in Cebu.

“The congress itself has 5,000 (members), and of course we are inviting the faithful of Cebu to attend and it is open to national (participants)," Balili said.

The reenactment of the first baptism in the Philippines on April 14, 2021 will also be given importance, he said.

Balili said around 500 children will be baptized at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño during the commemoration of the first baptism in the country.

“The event, specially the reenactment of baptism, is one of the focal points why our fellow Filipinos living abroad will come home," he said.

The church also planned to conduct a pilgrimage of the Jubilee Cross with the scheduled kick-off on December 1, this year. This will also mark the start of the countdown towards the quincentennial celebration of the Catholic faith in the Philippines.

A replica of Magellan's cross, which is made of “Tindalo” wood covering the relic of the true cross brought by Magellan here, will also be mounted. The cross will visit the different parishes in Cebu, dioceses and archdioceses, prelatures and military ordinariate in the country.

Monthly jubilees, a series of activities involving church organizations, ministries and sectors of society, will also be conducted, Balili said.

Parish churches will also conduct their own local congress from August to October of 2020 that will culminate in an archdiocesan congress on October 24, 2020, six months prior to the main congress in April 2020.

On April 11 to 18, 2021, an Amorsolo painting exhibition will be held in Cebu. Fernando Amorsolo is hailed as one of the most important artists in the Philippines whose most easily recognizable anecdotal paintings is the first baptism in the Philippines. The painting was reportedly commissioned by the Cebu High School.

A Triduum celebration before the anniversary proper will take place in order to highlight the religious piety of the Cebuanos. This segment of the series of events will end in a procession to be done around Cebu City on April 13, 2021. (PNA)

 

 

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