SMOKING will not be allowed within the premises of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help or Baclaran Church in Paranaque City starting July 31.
Fr. Joseph O. Echano, rector of the “Novena Capital of the Philippines” said the decision to implement the “No Smoking” policy is in connection with the ongoing Year of Jubilee celebrated by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (C.Ss.R.) worldwide, thanking the Lord for 150 years of helping spread the devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
“I believe that we at the shrine must embody what we want to preach … and what we want to preach is sustainable living, sustainable relationship with Mother Nature, with God’s creation … And that begins with the shrine,” he said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website.
Echano added that the “greening of the shrine” is also the proactive response of the Redemptorist Community of Baclaran, which he heads, to “Laudato si’,” the recent encyclical of Pope Francis, where he underscores the responsibility of all humans, regardless of race and religion, to care for the planet, “our common home.”
The priest also revealed that the Baclaran Redemptorists also plan to cultivate vegetable gardens inside the shrine, using recyclable materials, in order to show devotees and pilgrims it is possible to plant vegetables even in an urban setting.
The rector also said they intend to put up solar panels in the compound as a safe and clean alternative to conventional energy sources, and also in anticipation of a looming power crisis in the future.