CITY OF MALOLOS—At least 3,484 local Catholic lay devotees and 753 foreign delegates will visit 15 “Places of Mercy” in Bulacan province as part of the Fourth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (Wacom) that is taking place in the country.
Fr. Nick F. Lalog, chairman of the Diocesan Commission on Social Communication of the Diocese of Malolos, said both local and foreign participants will visit the designated Places of Mercy, like the Ephesus House, Tahanan ni Mother Rita, Santo Niño Bethany House and Bahay Pangarap, all in Guiguinto town; Nazareth Home for Street Children (Bustos, Bulacan); Bahay ni San Martin (Bustos); Nazareth Home for Street Children (Bustos); Emmaus House of Apostolate (Malolos City), Tahanang Mapagpala (Malolos City); Bethlehem House of Bread (Baliwag); Bahay Kalinga (Santa Maria); Lingap Bata Center (Santa Maria); Hospicio San Juan de Dios for Men (Bocaue); Galilee Homes (Dona Remedios Trinidad); and the Dumagat tribesmen also in Doña Remedios Trinidad on January 19.
The apostolic congress started on Monday and will end on Friday.
Lalog said the participants arrived and assembled on Monday morning at the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral in Manila.
Joining them are Church dignitaries, headed by Papal Nuncio Guiseppe Pinto; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila; Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines; Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa; Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga, Wacom-Asia Episcopal coordinator; Bishop Jose Oliveros of Malolos, Wacom National Episcopal coordinator; Rev. Patrice Chocholski, Wacom secretary-general; and Rev. Fr. Prospero Tenorio, Wacom-Asia secretary-general.
On Tuesday the participants will witness the enthronement of the images of the Divine Mercy, Our Lady of Mercy, saints Faustina, John Paul II, Padre Pio and Mother Teresa with morning prayers at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
On the third day they will depart for the National Shrine and Parish of Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas. The pilgrimage will culminate on Friday at the Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Balanga, Bataan.
Seeing Divine Mercy as object of the Church’s missionary proclamation, Lalog said Saint Pope John Paul II had stated, “The Church, professing mercy and remaining always faithful to it, has the right and the duty to call upon the mercy of God, imploring it in the face of all the manifestations of physical and moral evil, before all threats that cloud the whole horizon of the life of humanity today.”
Lalog said Wacom was introduced by the Vatican from April 2 to 6, 2008, in Rome, Italy.
The first Wacom coincided with the third death anniversary of Saint Pope John Paul II.
“From then on, mercy congresses have been sustained on a regular basis so that every world congress was followed by a continental congress and on the following year by a national congress, then back to another world congress,” he said.
Lalog also disclosed that on July 18, 2015, Oliveros wrote to all the bishops requesting them to delegate an archdiocesan spiritual director who shall guide and direct lay devotees to actively involve themselves for Wacom 2017.
He said that this year’s theme is “Communion in Mercy, Mission for Mercy.” PNA
Image credits: Nonie Reyes