Visita Iglesia and heritage tour of Taal, Batangas churches
GREEN Faith Travels will hold the annual Lenten Pilgrimage of Faith and Heritage in Taal and nearby towns in Batangas on March 29.
The pilgrimage is part of the traditional Visita Iglesia, or the visit of churches during HolyWeek.
In Taal, pilgrims will venerate the miraculous image of Our Lady of Caysasay at the shrine built for her in 1640. They may receive plenary indulgence, since the shrine has been affiliated with the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome since 2012.
Shrine rector Fr. Bon Cumagon said the Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay is one of only two Marian shrines in the country—the other being the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag in Pangasinan—that may dispense “perpetual” plenary indulgence.
An indulgence is the full or partial remission before God of the temporal punishment still due after sins have been forgiven and may be applied to the living or the dead.
Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said pilgrims who visit and pray there “will receive plenary indulgence provided they fulfill the prescribed conditions of going to confession, participating in a Mass and praying for the intentions of the Holy Father.”
Pilgrims are attending the Mass at 8 a.m. to be presided by Father Cumagon, and may touch the veil (a practice called “Pahalikan”) of the Virgin of Caysasay during the visit.
Pilgrims will also pray at Basilica of St. Martin de Tours, more popularly known as Taal Basilica, the biggest Catholic church in Asia, in Taal; the parishes of St. Roch and Holy Cross (Mahal na Poon ng Banal na Krus) in Lemery; St. Raphael the Archangel Parish in Calaca; St. Isidore Labrador Parish in San Luis; and Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face in Sta. Teresita.
To appreciate the heritage of a genteel Filipino family, pilgrims will also visit the Apacible ancestral home, a bahay-na-bato (house of stone) for four generations and then updated in the Art Deco style, turned into Leon C. Apacible Museum and Library, where it is said Dr. José Rizal and other heroes of the revolution became house guests.
Pilgrimage tour cost of P2,500 per person includes round-trip transport via airconditioned tourist bus, breakfast, lunch, snacks, water, juice packs and pilgrim’s kit. Deadline for registration is Feb. 28.
Inquire with Edwin Galvez at 09176672942 or 0928-4312087; e-mail greenfaithtravels@gmail.com and greenfaithtravels@yahoo.com; or visit Green Faith Travels on Facebook.
New Taguig parish church
The parish pastoral council headed by Fr. Mark Sese and the construction committee of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish will be having its groundbreaking ceremony on March 1, 3:30 p.m., at Sta. Rita and Daang Hari streets in Perpetual Village, Barangay Tanyag, Taguig City.
Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert C. Vergara and Taguig Mayor Laarni Cayetano will grace the occasion.
New poetry book
“Burning Houses: Poems” by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta will be launched March 8, 4 p.m., at PowerBooks, Greenbelt 4, Makati City. The event is organized by Bienvenido N. Santos CreativeWriting Center (BNSCWC) of De La Salle University (DLSU), with the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House and PowerBooks.
Katigbak-Lacuesta is an award-winning poet, having won first prize in the Philippines Free Press Award (2007), and third and second prizes for poetry in English (2005, 2008) in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards. Her first collection, “The Proxy Eros,” was short-listed for the National Book Award by Manila Critics Circle in 2008. She is editor of the “Metro Serye” series, a charming anthology of poems and stories in a road-map format. She is also DLSU BNSCWC associate director for poetry.
Of Katigbak-Lacuesta’s second book, Filipino-American writer Luisa A. Igloria remarks: “In ‘Burning Houses,’ her second collection of beautifully crafted poems, the poet continues the exploration of those themes which she first took up in ‘The Proxy Eros’: the lives of the body in love, in relationship with self and/or other. In this new work, however, the poet’s voice has acquired more complex richness, a resonance made possible by her willingness to deeply live the questions that language details... Here is a poet who is wise beyond her years, whose address of contemporary life and its postmodern predicaments is unsentimental without jettisoning tenderness.”
Call 5244611 local 233; e-mail bnscwc@yahoo.com.