Archdiocese's activities bared

CEBU, Philippines - The celebration of Cebu Archdiocese’s 75th Jubilee on April 28 will be a very momentous occasion because three meaningful events will be commemorated on the same day.

Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Cebu Archdiocese media liaison officer, said in a press conference yesterday that April 28 “will be a three-in-one” day for the archdiocese as it will mark the 444th year since the finding of the image of the Sr. Sto. Niño known as the “Kaplag,” the feast of San Vitalis, the patron of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and the 75th year since Pope Pius XI issued a bull declaring the Archdiocese of Cebu.

The diamond year celebration will center on the theme “Growing Together in Grace as the Body of Christ,” depicting how the archdiocese grew in the past 75 years.

Dakay said the archdiocese is “not just the cradle of Christianity on the Far East but it has grown out of the cradle in size and strength.”

The celebration will be opened by a Mass at 4:30 p.m. at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral that will be participated by 34 bishops and archbishops and 20 delegates from all 141 parishes in Cebu.

Papal Nuncio Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are expected to attend the mass. Pope Benedict XVI is also expected to give a message.

The highlight of the Mass will be the unveiling of the marker in the Cathedral and the opening of the “jubilee door.”

The jubilee door was opened during the Great Jubilee year of 2000 and will be opened for the whole year of the 75th Jubilee.

It is hoped that the pope will grant 2009-2010 as a year of grace which will give indulgence for the people of Cebu. Anyone who passes through this door will have the indulgence.

After the mass, a dinner show dubbed as “Sugbuanong Simbahan” will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center 7:00 p.m. The show will be divided into three: the first will depict the year 1934-1959, second from 1959-1984 and third from 1984-2009. — /WAB   (THE FREEMAN)