Volunteers are growing in numbers, some of them survivors of
super-typhoon “Yolanda,” willing to give their time and meager resources
to ensure the success of the visit of Pope Francis to the country next
month.
“Many people are very willing to share. Even the survivors are
donating. They said they have received a lot of blessings that they feel
that it’s their time to share,” said Fr. Cris Militante, executive
secretary of the Information and Media Committee for the Papal Visit in
the Archdiocese of Palo.
Meanwhile, a lay Catholic group is working on an intricate chasuble,
the outer garment that a priest wears at Mass, using the indigenous piña
fabric that they will give to Pope Francis as a gift.
Ambassador Henrietta de Villa, national president of the Mother
Butler Guild (MBG), said the cream-colored chasuble will be “plain and
simple because the pontiff is a very simple person”.
Even the vestments that the MBG will be providing for the priests and
bishops attending the Mass of the pontiff at the Manila Cathedral and
Luneta in Manila are also going to be very simple. For the priests, she
said, they are providing at least 4,000 stoles, the material worn by
priests around their necks that hangs down in front. For the bishops,
there will be 250 liturgical vestments and the mitre, the hat which is
the most distinctive symbol of a bishop. De Villa said the color of the
liturgical vestments will be off white.
In the past, the MBG also provided the liturgical vestments for many
important celebrations for priests and bishops such as during the visit
of then Pope and now St. John Paul II in 1981 and 1995, and the National
Congress of the Clergy in 2004 and 2010 among others.
Pope Francis will say Mass for the priests, bishops and religious at
the Manila Cathedral on January 16, 2015 while the Mass in Luneta will
be held on January 18.
Some of the donations that the parishes received for the papal visit, Fr. Militante said were even anonymous.
A group is sponsoring the video walls that will be used for the
different papal activities in Leyte as well as the food that will be
served to Pope Francis and the calamity victims.
The pontiff will have lunch with 30 Yolanda survivors and earthquake
victims in Bohol at the Archbishop’s Residence on January 17.
A fast food chain has volunteered to sponsor the food of the crowd.
“They asked us not to mention the name of the company anymore since they
are doing this for the Pope,” he said.
In Manila, even the liturgical furniture that will be used in the
different papal events such as the papal chair, altar table, among
others, were manufactured free of charge by Engr. Robert Cruz of the
Vitreartus Liturgical Arts.
“When we offered to do everything, we were not thinking of charging
for it. It is more of giving back, to give our own share or contribute
to the success of the papal visit,” said Cruz.
An ecclesiastical artist from Pampanga is also doing the religious
images for the papal event, with an estimated value of more than half a
million, free of charge.
“I asked them if it can be on loan only because I’m going to bring
the images to my museum and they agreed,” Willy Layug said. He is making
a life-size image of the Virgin Mary as well as of the crucified Christ
among others.
Even the two Pope mobiles that the pontiff will be using during his
visit to Manila and Leyte will come from a secret benefactor.
Fr. David Concepcion, executive secretary of the Committee on
Transportation for the Papal Visit, declined to reveal the identity of
the pope mobile’s creators, saying they prefer to remain anonymous.
“This was done willingly, from the kindness of their hearts,” the priest
said.
Earlier, Fr. Anton Pascual, chairman of the Papal Visit Media
Relations Sub-committee, revealed that the church is already accepting
donations for the papal visit.
“But it’s important that we follow the request of the Vatican not to
make the visit expensive because the Pope wants the people to donate
more for the victims of calamities,” he added.
The Church source had earlier said that they will limit the expenses
for the visit to P70 million since the Pope himself requested that his
visit be made pastoral and simple.
The apostolic visit will take place at a time when the local Church
observes the Year of the Poor, the third of the nine-year era of New
Evangelization that seeks to prepare the faithful for the fifth
centenary of Christianity in the country in 2021.
