Cabaero: Incidents at churches

THE Holy Week was marked by unfortunate events that happened in Catholic churches in France and Sri Lanka.

These incidents–-the fire that hit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the bombings of churches in Sri Lanka – showed how fortunate we are to not have any untoward incident in churches here.

Let’s hope our fortune continues this week as Cebu hosts National Youth Day, a huge religious gathering of young, local and international pilgrims.

A major fire erupted at the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday of Holy Week. As of Good Friday, architects and construction workers have stabilized the damaged structure and said there was no more risk the remaining walls would collapse.

So far, the investigation pointed to a “computer glitch” as a possible cause of the blaze. Next move is to restore the cathedral with the more than a billion dollars pledged by individuals and organizations to help in the rebuilding. No casualty was reported.

But, in Sri Lanka, the country is mourning the death of nearly 300 people on Easter Sunday in explosions in churches and hotels. Those attacked were the St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa. Hotels that were bombed were the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury, all within Colombo’s seaside areas. The fatalities included Christian faithful and foreign tourists.

Pope Francis, after celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square, denounced the attacks as “cruel violence” on the most important of Christian holidays. He said the attacks had “brought mourning and sorrow.”

In the Philippines, police are heightening their alertness in the wake of the series of explosions in Sri Lanka. National police chief Oscar Albayalde said terrorists behind the bombings could seek refuge in other places anywhere in the world to escape the hunt for the bombers. We have to intensify our intelligence gathering, Albayalde said. The country is safe, so far, as no threat was reported as of Monday, he added.

In Cebu, a huge religious gathering is scheduled for this week. National Youth Day, dubbed as the country’s biggest gathering of Catholic youth, will be held from April 23 to 28. Some 12,000 young pilgrims will gather here from different countries. An opening procession will be held on Wednesday, April 24, with police estimating the participants to reach 40,000.

Church leaders are expected to take part in the National Youth Day activities. They include 30 bishops of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) led by its president, Archbishop Romulo Valles, and Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gabriele Caccia who will represent Pope Francis.

The Holy Week in the country was without untoward incident, with bloody events coming only from self-flogging and two actual crucifixions in Cebu and Pampanga.

Let’s hope the country stays that way. That terrorists here or those with extremist agenda will understand the people’s religiosity and respect it.

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