FR. VICTOR EMmanuel Quintos from Alcala, Cagayan, wrote to ask for help for the repair of St. Philomena Church, where he was ordained a year ago. The parish belongs to the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao and was established by the Dominican friars in 1843. It was initially a community of migrants from Ilocos region who moved to Cagayan. Fray Casimiro Gonzalez, OP, started the construction of the church and the convent, but the church stood unfinished when the friars left the mission after the Philippine Revolution.
The church of St. Philomena is the widest church in the region. A strong typhoon left the church roofless for a couple of decades. A small chapel was built instead within the premises of the wide church where liturgical services were done. The roof was reinstalled only in 1962 and later improved in 2004.
Fr. Pio Rino L. Guaring, the newly installed parish priest whose zeal is to continue the work of the friars, is determined to complete the church and make it a decent house of God before his term expires in April 2011. The works include an urgent need to fortify the church?s posts, complete the roof and ceiling, install additional lights and other essential repairs that need to be accomplished soon to save the original structure and design.
Fr. Eman says that if only 1,000 readers would contribute P1,000 each, the church would be completed. For your donation, remit to St. Philomena Parish, BPI account 008543-0221-61, Tuguegarao College Avenue branch. Or write to Fr. Pio to the above address. This column is calling devotees of St. Philomena to help.
The beautiful wedding of Anderson Go and Malou Mortil at the Manila Cathedral last Oct. 11 was no ordinary wedding because it was the coming together of an ?unsighted? bridegroom and ?sighted? bride declaring their vows before God, family and friends. The Music Impressions Ensemble accompanied the ?unsighted? singers belonging to the Ambassadors of Light (AOL).
At the reception in the Dragon House restaurant, the AOL performed again before a full house of well-wishers who appreciated the miracle of the occasion. In Anderson?s own words, he said that it was an answered prayer from God that he would meet and marry the love of his life who will take him for what he is??unsighted? and all.
A very important guest was Harima Yasuo, chairman of the Tanpopo-No-Ye Foundation, Anderson Go?s mentor who invited him several times to the Wataboshi Music Festival participated in by the disabled. The music festival last Aug. 30 in Seoul, Korea, featured the AOL, who impressed their international audience.
Anderson brought his scholars, soprano Grace Garrol and tenor Eduardo del Rosario and Joey Medina, a ?sighted? pianist. To act as guides for the ?unsighted? were Geraldine Osias, vice chair of the AOL Foundation, and Sonia Atabug, PRO. At the festival was Marukami-san, executive director of Tanpopo-No-Ye Foundation. Wataboshi is a project of the Tanpopo-No-Ye Foundation in Nara City, Japan, of which Harima-san is chair.
