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Monday, November 19, 2012

Basilan Catholics start countdown to ‘Golden Jubilee Year’

By Rene V. Carbayas

ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Nov 19 (PIA) – Catholic faithful in Basilan started the counted to the golden jubilee year celebration of the establishment of the Roman Catholic Prelature of Isabela on October 21 next year.

Thousands gathered at the Claret College of Isabela to mark the beginning of the countdown last Oct 21 with hundreds of Catholic faithful from the different parishes in Basilan.

The celebration kicked off with a Mass led by Bishop Martin Jumoad at Claret College, coinciding with the canonization of the country’s second saint, Pedro Calungsod, in Rome.

The bishop and his priests carry the “Jubilee Cross” as they launched their 365 days of preparation for the prelature’s Golden Jubilee next year. Selected Catholic faithful also lighted 50 candles placed in the magnified number 50 near the altar.

Jumoad, the prelature’s third bishop, called on the faithful to observe the coming days as opportunities of “thanksgiving and renewal.” He lauded support of different lay organizations to the various pastoral programs of the prelature.

He also expressed his sincere appreciation for the youth groups actively helping in parish activities across Basilan, among the country’s poorest provinces.

In his one hour homily, the bishop recalled that at the Sta. Isabel de Portugal Cathedral parish, there is a baptismal book bearing the date 1866, which signifies there were already Catholics in Isabela at that time.

The bishop added when the Claretians came in 1951, there were only two parishes, Sta. Isabel Parish church in Isabela City and St. Peter Parish in Lamitan City.
However, it was in 1963 when Pope John XXIII issued a papal bull, which created the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan though there were only four parishes.

“In 1963 the Catholic directory reported that there were more or less 35,000 Catholics, now according to the census of 2007, more or less there are 130,000 Catholics,” Jumoad said.

The Prelature of Isabela in Basilan was created on October 12, 1963, and comprises all territories constituting the civil jurisdiction of Basilan Province, including Isabela City. Its titular patron is the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The bishop also acknowledged the sacrifice of the Augustinian Recollect fathers, the Jesuits and the Claretians who ministered to the people. According to him, the missionaries then faced uncertainties, danger and risks as the missionary sisters from St. Paul Chartres, the Dominicans of the Holy Rosary and the other congregations.

Jumoad said the first diocesan priests came in 1975 though most residents preferred the services of the Spanish missionaries. He added the diocesan priests’ sacrifices paid off eventually.

Bishop Jose Ma. Querexeta, CMF, was the first bishop of the Prelature of Isabela.  As he established parishes and schools for Muslims and Christians alike, the bishop worked for the integration of Christians and Muslims.  He set up projects that would benefit the Muslims as he built churches for the Christians.

The Mindanao War of the 70's shattered the prelature's dream of Christians and Muslims living peacefully side by side.  This was aggravated by the kidnapping of a Spanish Claretian priest in 1987 who had devoted many years of his priestly life in Basilan attending to the spiritual needs of Christians and the economic needs of the poorer Muslims.

Bishop Romulo de la Cruz became the Prelate Ordinary of Basilan in 1989 upon the retirement of Bishop Querexeta.  He arrived on the scene when Islamic Fundamentalism was on the rise and the Abu Sayaf, a violent fundamentalist group of armed adherents, was born.

One Franciscan brother and one Claretian priest were kidnapped in 1992 and 1993 respectively.  Not even the local clergy was spared.

Father Cirilo Nacorda was kidnapped on June 8, 1994, and was released three months later, but not before fifteen of his companions were killed and the remaining 25 captives, mostly teachers and health workers, were finally released.

Kidnap for ransom remains a genuine threat for church workers and priests in Basilan, a known stronghold of terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

However, not even one of them is intimidated by it. The prelature personnel, from the lay workers up to the bishop himself, are one in standing firm on no ransom for kidnapping.

Presently, the Prelature has the following parishes, namely: the St. Peter’s Parish in Lamitan City, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Look, St. Anthony de Padua Parish in Sta. Clara, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Maluso, San Vicente Ferrer Parish of Matarling, San Roque Parish of Tairan in Lantawan, Sto. Rosario Parish in Begang, San Vicente Parish of Tumajubong, Sta. Theresa de Avila quasi-parish in Cabunbata, and the Sta. Isabel de Portugal Cathedral Parish in Isabela City. (RVC/PIA9-ZBST)