Tuesday, November 13, 2007
‘Be the hope of the Church’ in land of killings
NEW priests face a challenge in a “Philippines where loyalties are changing and in a Cebu where killings are made to happen on weekends in the name of peace and order.”
In his homily, Cebu Archbishop Cardinal Vidal warned them that “in this day and age, to build is difficult and to plant may even be dangerous.”
“For one thing, you are ordained into a Philippines where loyalties are changing, where values are shifting and where standards are sagging in more ways than one,” the cardinal said.
“You are ordained into a Cebu where killings, they say, are made to happen on weekends in the name of peace and order, because during weekends, political quarrels are the order of each day while the church is striving to face and fight its own social concerns Sunday after Sunday,” he further said.
Vidal, however, said he presumed that the new priests and deacons have been taught what to build and plant, which is “what’s all about in the vineyard of the Lord.”
Cebu Province is short of priests despite “more than enough seminarians.”
“We are more than four million here (so) we need more priests,” Cardinal Vidal told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview after the ordination of new priests and deacons.
He said the “most ideal setup is 5,000 people per priest, but we (currently) have 10,000 to 15,000 and even 20,000 per priest.”
“We have more than 400 seminarians, but we have to preserve and encourage them,” Vidal said, adding that he would also ask the people to help in the funding because many of the seminarians come from poorer families.
He challenged three new priests and eight deacons during their ordination at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral to “not even pretend to sound like elderly or retired (but) rather talk and walk as young priests and deacons with an energy and enthusiasm of the youth.”
Fr. Expedito Torrevillas II of Ilihan, Tabogon said not being “kinaraan” is just another way of saying “we should be balanced and try our best to adjust in one way or another to the needs of the people.”
“As young priests and deacons, you must contribute your time, talent and treasure to the building of God’s temple and planting of the message of Christ,” Vidal said in his homily.
He said they should “sincerely” make a difference and act as “hope of the church today.”
“I know it’s not easy. It takes a lot of falling on the ground and dying like wheat grain. It demands a lot of losing and hating one’s life in this world in order to serve and follow Jesus wherever he is,” Vidal said.
New priests and deacons are ordained “to tear up, knock down, destroy, overthrow, and build and to plant.”
The Cebuano seminarians ordained as priests are Fr. Brian Brigoli from Tuburan, Fr. Mariano Dioscoro Cuarto of Mambaling and Torrevillas.
The new deacons are Lemeul Ejercito, Ruben Endona, Porfirio Mahinay, John Mission, Randy Nebria, Allan Romagos, Conrado Sedillo, and Camilo Sestoso.
They all finished their theology studies at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos in Mabolo, Cebu City. (TEP)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 11, 2007 issue)
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