The Call for a Culture of Encounter    The clergy in the Diocese is responding to the call of Pope Francis to proclaim the Gospel and promote a culture of encounter in their pastoral works. Such call requires a new approach to make all things new. A New Pastoral Orientation A new way of doing pastoral works in the parishes is being proposed by no less than than the chairman on Pastoral Ministry, Msgr. Pedro C. Frac. In a schema above, basic ecclesial communities (BEC) take central prominence suggesting a movement originating from the bottom struggling to live up to the promises of a new heaven and a new earth. The movement is focused on new catechism as a new way of doing evangelization. A New Catechism    The monsignor has pioneered in the Diocese of Kalibo a community-owned school-based catechetical program. The program, like a mustard seed, is silently thriving and gaining strong support among small communities in the whole municipality of Batan. Wit...

With the expressed interest of giving the Pledge System a second look following its lull of more than seven years, questions from the younger generations are cropping up with little answers being justly provided for. Thus, in this article, let me devote some time approximating the answers to frequently asked questions regarding the system.   Question 1 (Q1) - What is Pledge System?   Answer 1 (A1) - Pledge System is a means of providing or extending expressed temporal support by the faithful to the local church where they are ecclesiastically part of for her proper objectives. It is a method of fulfilling one's obligation as provided for in Canon 222 §1   according to each person's possibilities by taking into account his or her familial obligations. Pledge is not tithing per se as biblically understood. Rather, it approximates tithing as while it is not compulsory, one binds herself/himself to the pledge she/he made before God and her/his neighbors (i.e., the l...

My promise of love: Ginakueang ako it bisaea Agud ika paabot kimo Pero bisan pa, akong hinyo Nga sa akong pag-ako Nga ikaw hay hinigugma Kunta hay mahangpan mo Ako hay tawo man lang May kinahang-ean, may kahinaan Indi ko kimo ika-promisa Pareho ko iba Rong mga bituon ag ro buean Una sa kaeangitan Haead ko kimo Akong taguipusoon Puno it nina Padayon nga nagabaga Bisan pa nga kon amat Hay maeuya. I wrote it because I am loved. I am loved and called to love in the process. I respond to it in my own pace. In my day-to-day approximations, I am becoming certain that Euclid's postulate that straight line is the shortest way from one point to another is wrong when it comes to human intersubjectivity.  In loving, I have to mean every word of it and approximate its meaning every day of my life. Aware of my strengths and flaws, I hasten to live its truth in my day-to-day struggles. Even if at times, love seems to stab the wounded and scarred heart. ...

(The following article was originally written for the local ordinary way back in 2004. I am posting it here to remind us of the path we have had trodden and now seem to forget. For as S o ren Kierkegaard avers, life is best understood in retrospect.) The Bueoligan sa Katilingban ni San Rafael evolved out of a Parish-based credit union to become a people’s organization that extends financial (loan) assistance to its members vis-à-vis their understanding that they form a brotherhood in Christ. It takes up cooperativism as its approach to rally its members in working together to realize a common vision of a “New Heave and a New Earth” just as it values transparency and accountability to build up peace based on justice in the community. The credit union was initiated by the Rev. Fr. Tito S. Gelito, Parish Priest of St. Rafael the Archangel Parish, Balete, Aklan from December 6, 1986 to August 8, 1997 to form part of his pastoral program in response to the signs of the time ...

The Organic Agriculture Act of the Philippines was signed into law by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo late in her term in April 6, 2010. This Republic Act seeks to develop and promote organic farming and discourage the use of synthetic and chemical-based agriculture among the Filipino farmers. Two years after its passage, the DILG took the initiative of popularizing the law among local chief executives. It has scheduled this summer one-day regional awareness seminars for LCEs all throughout the country in anticipation of creating a spark for key officials to implement the provisions of the law in their respective turf. It hopes that by communicating it with the local leaders, the law's intent of upholding and expanding ecologically sound, socially acceptable, economically viable and technically feasible methods and approaches of food and fiber productions can be realized. African Night Crawlers (Photo credit: Local Harvest Org. ) But long before the Department of A...

MY ELDEST daughter, Vita, made the sign of the cross prior to playing "Angry Bird" on a computer.  I reacted with a question: Hey, what do you mean by that? And she looked at me and smiled: Oh, it's nothing. Just a thought." Making the sign of a cross prior to starting off an activity is a culture thing (not only for Catholic Filipinos but also for some Latin Americans--just watch a boxing match between those two, Manny Pacquiao and Eric Morales for instance). For Baleten-on however, it is part of the morning ritual of taking a bath together with the incantation, " Pwera ubo, pwera sip-on, pwera eagnat, pwera sigbin, aswang! " (Save us from cough, save us from cold, save us from fever, save us from witches and demons!). It is at the head of the morning ritual of drivers as they start their day on the road, and make it again whenever they passed through a church. The devout commuters follow through with the ritual and non-Catholics wonder why in s...