Completed in 1869, the church of San Joaquin town in Iloilo province, touted to be the country’s most militaristic due to the bas relief on its pediment depicting the Battle of Tetuan in Morocco in 1859 to 1860, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.
Recently, an advice of Pope Francis to priests to keep our homilies to 10 minutes made the rounds of the internet. (Fr. Joe Galdon, SJ, used to tell us in the seminary, “There are no souls saved after seven minutes,” while Fr. Jim Donelan, SJ, trained us, or at least tried to, on the one-point homily.)
A buttress supporting an adobe wall has collapsed and grass overgrows the patio of the four-century-old church that have earned it the nickname "Sistine Chapel of the Andes."
Spanish, American and post-Vatican II ecclesiastical heritage of the Diocese of Bacolod in Negros Occidental was the focus of the exhibit “Balaan nga Balay” at University of Santo Tomas (UST) Central Seminary in Manila.