pamalandong sa barangay

Beginning last Tuesday we started our yearly Pamalandong sa Barangay consisting of a one hour reflection, this year on sin, followed by a holy hour while the priests hear confessions. We started with Barangay Cuartero with its adjoining barangays namely, Taytay Zone II and Calubihan. We have to join these barangays together because Taytay Zone II does not have a chapel and Calubihan has a very small one only ten people can fit inside.
The next day, Wednesday, we were in Lourdes. Barangay Lourdes was originally marked for “extinction” with the on-going construction of the flood control project. The people living in that narrow strip of land adjacent to the creek will be converted into a service road and all including the chapel have to be vacated. Luckily, elections are near and the relocation was postponed at least for those who live beyond the three-meter mark from the banks of the creek. When we got there last Wednesday the barangay was slowly turning into a ghost town – fewer people walking to and fro what was once a crowded foot walk. A day will come, however, when that little community by the creek will be gone for good. Well that’s Uswag for all of us. I can still remember those days when Fr. Noel Gomez negotiated, bargained and pleaded with the owners of that big lot, filled with squatters then, so that they would at least forgo their right to acquire the accretion lot by the bank of the creek in favor of the squatters. I was still here when they subdivided that little strip so that they could all fit in. And I was still here when they built that beautiful grotto behind the altar with the chapel wonderfully made with bamboo, though this was washed away by Typhoon Frank and only the original grotto remained. Now even that has to go.


Last Thursday we proceeded to the magnificent chapel of Barangay San Vicente. This was not the original chapel when we started celebrating Mass every Sunday back then. The original site of the chapel then was nearer the creek surrounded by squatters on all sides. (Actually, in those days, what motivated the priests of the cathedral to say masses in these places were the poor in their poor man’s chapel, since logic follows that any rich person with all their means can go to church, no matter the distance, if they wanted to.) The houses surrounding the chapel were so close some people did not feel the need to go out of their houses to attend mass. They (whole families) just sat by their windows! (Really, and I am not exaggerating.)
Then when the subdivision was started the houses had to be relocated, including the chapel. First, because the new owners could not decide where to place us, we celebrated mass at the garage of one of the houses inside the subdivision. We did that for months then. Then, when they gave us a small piece of land in front of the present chapel, the people built a tiny hut, actually just a roof for us to have a place to gather. We didn’t even bother to landfill the place (since the stipulation then was for us to make a temporary structure) and every time it rained we found ourselves standing on mud and many times I had to wear tennis shoes for mass so that I won’t slip. Now it’s a beautiful place surrounded by beautiful homes better than many parish churches in the rural areas I’ve seen.
In all these places (I am writing this piece on a Thursday evening) the ratio of the population of the whole barangay and the people attending the Pamalandong (including those who go to confessions) is terribly small. I think this is something we have to look into. Is there something wrong with the dissemination of information? Is our timing incorrect – supper time, tele-serye time, time for rest? Are these things like the Pamalandong becoming insignificant to people? Is the church still making sense to the majority and their lives? Does confession still make sense to people? Sometimes one can say that the chapel was full and as a priest I would be happy about it. (As an aside, I did my thanksgiving mass in our barangay chapel in San Nicolas, Oton because, as I reasoned then, I wanted a full house in my first mass and indeed the chapel was overflowing some people had to stand on the sidewalk of the main road.) But what is a full chapel vis-a-vis the total population? I think this is something we should greatly consider when we go back to the drawing board.

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Last Friday we celebrated the feast of St. Joseph. In his feast on March 19 he is celebrated as Patron of the Universal Church (his feast on May 1 celebrates him as a workman to honor the dignity of human labor). If you notice in our cathedral the image of St. Joseph had been restored to its former grandeur (though it was formerly located on top the old main retablo). His drab dress is now colored green and the image of the Child Jesus he is holding has been restored (years ago someone had the creativity to steal the infant way up the left transept). It is my prayer and hope that our devotion to St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church will increase in fervor. We need his protection and his prayers especially now when the church is attacked on all sides and is rocked by not a few scandals created by her ministers. I would like to ask you to commend to the protection of St. Joseph our new deacons, Rev. Tomas Elias Barios Guidoriagao of Cabatuan and Rev. Randy Osorio Zabala of Lambuanao. God willing, in a few months time they will become priests and will join the ranks of workers for the vineyard. Please pray to St. Joseph, light a candle on his altar and ask his intercession to pray for this church we all love.