0 Calungsod donors win BMWs, Sorento

Three lucky donors for the Pedro Calungsod canonization fund will soon drive their brand new luxury vehicles after their names were drawn in last Tuesday’s raffle draw. Among the winners was Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Cebu Archdiocese media liason officer who will drive home a BMW 1 Series as the second prize winner. The grand prize winner for the BMW 3 Series is a lucky lady who bought the certificate sold by finance committee member Amado Go while the third prize  Kia Sorento went to the owners of a travel agency, Federico and Elizabeth Reyes. However the three haven’t brought home the cars yet because taxes and registrations have to be...

0 Inspire youth to be like ‘Pedro’, CBCP urges ministers

MANILA - The CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) has challenged religious and lay youth ministers to inspire young Catholics under their care to be like St. Pedro Calungsod, especially in this Year of Faith. In his message for the nationwide observance of the Youth Ministry Awareness Week and National Youth Day this year, ECY chairman and Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon urged bishops, priests and religious nuns, and organization leaders to commit themselves to the Church like what the Filipino saint has done during his youth. “On this Year of Faith, may we ardently and joyfully profess Christ’s love to our young people, inspiring them to...

0 A church of 100 walls’ rises in Cebu

A landmark on what will be a new mixed-use center, the new shrine to St. Pedro Calungsod is a modern structure symbolizing the ‘mysterious force’ of God THE CHAPEL of San Pedro Calungsod is a forest of walls that you wander through until you discover the center–a space of spiritual retreat and well-being. JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN THE ARCHITECTURE invites searching, walking through and discovering. PHOTOS BY JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN Bold and expressive in architecture, a new place of worship serves as the foundation of a large mixed-use center in a reclaimed area in Cebu. SM Prime Holdings is poised to replicate a Mall of Asia-type of development...

0 San Pedro Calungsod Chapel Opens

SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and the Archdiocese of Cebu recently led the dedication of the Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod in SM Seaside Complex at the South Road Properties in Cebu City. The day after its dedication, it was the holding area for the Bishops who took part in the National Thanksgiving Mass celebrating the canonization of Saint Pedro Calungsod in the South Road Properties area. The Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod is the first structure in the SM Seaside Complex, echoing a practice during Spanish times when towns would be built around a church. More recently, the Shrine of Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life, was also the first structure...

0 Calungsod draw moved to Dec. 18

DUE to numerous unforeseen events that happened, the scheduled raffle draw for holders of Certificates of Donation in the Fund Drive for San Pedro Calungsod’s canonization will be moved from Dec. 8 to Dec. 18 at 5 pm at the SM City Cebu North Wing Atrium. There will be representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and an independent auditing firm to witness the event. Special Events chair Marlinda Angbetic Tan disclosed that the commitee members, as well as the Finance Commitee members headed by Msgr. Roberto “Boy” Alesna, are pulling all stops to convince more generous donors to give P25,000 for a numbered...

0 HOMILY AT THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAN PEDRO CALUNGSOD

By RICARDO J. CARDINAL VIDAL Archbishop of Cebu Your Excellency, Benigno Simeon Aquino, President of the Republic of the Philippines, Your Excellency, Jejomar Binay, Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines, Your Eminence, Jose Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Your Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, Your Excellency, Most Rev. Jose Palma, Archbishop of Cebu and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Your Excellency, Most Rev. Giuseppe Pinto, Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines, Your Excellencies, My Brother Archbishops and Bishops, Honorable Cabinet...

0 Youth for peace

The recent canonization of Cebuano San Pedro Calungsod and the elevation of Filipino Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, both youthful representatives of our hopes for our future, blessed us with faith and strength that upheld us through the devastating trials of Storm Pablo this week. We here in central Cebu have been thankfully spared through these, thanks to Señor Sto. Niño whose feast day we shall celebrate next month, to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Cebu, and San Pedro Calungsod, whom most of us have prayed to for safety. And because of this, it is now our responsibility to help our brethren who have suffered loss of life, limb and property that...

0 Yule Expectations

MANY things that did happen at the beginning of the month may influence the rest of our celebration of Christmas. Foremost of these events are the coming of a storm, the picking a former Cebuana councilor as president of the Southeast Asian Nation psychiatrists and the adoration for San Pedro Calungsod. These celebrations may not have importance in our individual lives, in the same manner that we enjoy the significance even of the baptism we once had. But this makes me recall my favorite Santa Claus story when I was five-years old. It was the tradition in my family to hang socks inside which Santa Claus was supposed to put gifts. We were...

0 People’s show of devotion to Calungsod, amazing - priest

CEBU City - The people’s expression of faith and the fervor of their devotion to the new Filipino saint was truly astounding, a Church official said. The fervent devotion shown by the faithful during the “Duaw Nasud” was truly a religious experience, said Fr. Marvin Mejia, assistant secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. As the pilgrim statue of St. Pedro Calungsod visited dioceses across the country, people welcomed the image with much fervor and devotion, Mejia said. He said people were really happy that St. Pedro Calungsod came to visit their place. “There’s joy in their faces, the expression of faith,...

0 Cardinal Vidal recounts Calungsod’s journey to canonization

CEBU City - If there is anyone who has accompanied most closely St. Pedro Calungsod’s journey towards canonization —from near anonymity to become the Philippines’ second saint—it is Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal. Addressing guests at the Cebu International Convention Center on November 30, Cardinal Vidal recounted the twists and turns in St. Pedro Calungsod’s journey to official sainthood. The 81-year old cardinal could only clarify that when people say the canonization happened because of him, he would reply,”No, it’s Divine Providence.” As Calungsod’s story unfolded, apparently, Divine Providence would also appoint...

0 There is no double life for Christians - Cardinal Vidal

MANILA - Speaking before a vast crowd during the National Thanksgiving Mass for Cebu’s homegrown saint, Archbishop-emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal called on the faithful to live an integrated life, stressing that a true Christian cannot live a double life. A true Christian can be faithful in living his Christian faith and be a faithful citizen of his country at the same time, the retired Cebu archbishop said. Fidelity to the Christian faith should not run counter to one’s observance of the law, he said. “If we have to be Christians, let us be good citizens as well, observing every just law, practicing justice, in all our affairs being honest...

0 A letter to Pedro Calungsod

Dear Pedro, I write this letter to you For the young—and old people of my time, (The latter being those conscious of death Because of years, and, well, also of love, Which tells of a reality that’s greater, The former are of course fit as a spear.) How youthful hopes can be broached by a spear Into a flood of grace–this we see in you. Than money and power, is there nothing greater? Must life be laid on the lap of time, Untaught or neglectful of such as love, Certain of nothing but the fact of death? Adventure is of youth, but never death. At your age, one went to sea with a spear– To fish–but you went with Diego for love Of the...

0 Devotees share stories of faith

Two women yesterday shared their stories of faith in San Pedro Calungsod’s intercession for divine providence. Mary Jane dela Torre, 33, of Mandaue City, said doctors found a lump in her child’s neck two months after he was born. Dela Torre said she had a hard time giving birth to Ejhay, her second child now aged three. The mother went to St. Joseph’s Shrine in Mandaue City yesterday with the boy and his sister Sharia, 7. “I promised San Calungsod that I would go to the shrine to see him,” she said. Dela Torre gave birth to her son on Sept. 14, 2009. She was advised to undergo a caesarian operation which would cost P50,000 to P60,000....

0 Bishop urges Pinoys to follow Calungsod's ways

CEBU, Philippines – Bishops and Archbishops who joined the national thanksgiving Mass for San Pedro Calungsod on Friday expressed their happiness over the Cebuanos’ effort in organizing such a big event. They said that it was a chance for everyone to renew their faith especially during the Year of Faith. Bishop Julius Tonel from the Diocese of Ipil in Zamboanga-Sibugay said Calungsod’s sainthood was celebrated at the right time when the Church is facing key challenges. “It’s very important especially for our faith as a Catholic nation in many situations that we are threatened by moral issues and our faith would give us, our very core  what...

0 Super Inggo as St. Calungsod gets standing ovation in Cebu

Makisig Morales, 15, better known for his starring role in the Emmy- nominated fantaserye Super Inggo played the teen Visayan martyr Pedro Calungsod. Thousands of Cebuanos caught a glimpse of the life, travels and martyrdom of the young saint in a musical staged at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino Grand Ballroom on Wednesday night. “Teen Saint Pedro” showed the young martyr from who travelled with Jesuit priest Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores and other missionaries to the Marianas islands (now Guam) in 1668 where they died while propagating the Catholic faith. The show was an adaptation of Msgr. Rudy Villanueva’s full-length musical, Scenes...

0 Electric shock survivor dedicates ‘second life’ to San Pedro Calungsod

PETRONILO Dagojas, an electrician of the Mandaue city government, is grateful for his “second life” which he said he dedicates to San Pedro Calungsod. The father of two almost died when he touched a live wire while replacing street lamps in Hermag Village in barangay Basak last May 28. The electric shock forced doctors to amputate his left arm. “Basin gibuhi pako sa Ginoo kay pabalikon ko niya ug serbisyo ug plano nako mahimong devoto ni Pedro Calungsod karon nga gitagaan ko ug ikaduha nga kinabuhi,” Dagojas said. (Maybe the Lord saved my life because he wants me to serve him and I plan to devote my life to Pedro Calungsod.) Last Nov....

0 PHLPost reprints more Calungsod stamps due to ‘high demand’

MANILA - The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) has just announced that it will reprint 500,000 more copies of commemorative stamps in honor of St. Pedro Calungsod. PHLPost Postage and Philatelic Department manager Elenita San Diego said the new copies have been made available to the public since Tuesday due to high public demand. The new batch of stamps, however, was only presented and launched Wednesday at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, ahead of the Thanksgiving Mass for Calungsod’s canonization on Nov. 30. She said that they decided to release the copies earlier because there was a continued clamor for them to issue more stamps...

0 Calungsod parish seeks to bring hope to informal settlers

MANILA - A new parish named for the country’s second saint and focused on serving a community for informal settlers has been created in Muntinlupa City. The San Pedro Calungsod Quasi-Parish was established last October 14 by Parañaque Bishop Jesse Mercado to address the spiritual needs of the residents. The parish covers the housing resettlement projects for informal settlers in the 50-hectare portion of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) reservation. Fr. Benjamin Molina Jr., parish priest, said they see the need that is present, and the church wants to reach out to the people in the area with around 50,000 population. “The quasi-parish envisions...

0 Forecast: more vocations because of St. Pedro

MANILA - How does one measure the impact of a new saint in the Church? For Directors of Vocations in the Philippines (DVP) National Coordinator Fr. Rochester Charles Resuello, one concrete effect would be an increase in vocations in the Philippines. “I am expecting of more vocations (sic), especially in Cebu,” he said in an interview. For Fr. Resuello, the newly-canonized saint’s example is like a “big invitation” to sainthood and a life well-lived, especially to young people. According to Fr. Resuello, several characteristics make St. Pedro Calungsod particularly appealing to young people, such as his dedication and his witness to faith. “(The)...