Being a Cebuano Catholic

I am a Catholic by default. My parents and grandparents are Catholic and this is the religion I was born into. Except for one year in kindergarten, I never went to a Catholic school. Probably because of this, I do not know much about the symbols and traditions of my faith. I am embarrassed to admit that what little I know comes only from going to mass and attending catechism classes until I was nine.

Last Tuesday, I visited the Cathedral Museum of Cebu, which is housed at the old rectory of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. The museum is outside the gates of the cathedral grounds, an old building made of stone. The museum's brochure states that the building has been around since the 19th century. I remember it as the building where a cooperative store used to be.

Upon entering the museum, I saw a small excavation at the lobby. This exposed the different layers of foundation that came before the present floor. How symbolic, I thought, we are building upon where others have built before.

It was my first time to be inside an ecclesiastical museum. A few years ago, I visited a museum in Villa Escudero in Quezon Province. While its collection of saints and church relics was impressive, I could not help but feel as if I were in a huge antique shop. The objects on display were beautiful but they were meaningless to me.

My experience at the Cathedral Museum was different. Not only were the church relics on view aesthetically pleasing, for the first time in my life, I saw tangible evidence of my heritage as a Cebuano Catholic.

On the ground floor of the museum is a chapel, a reconstruction of a chapel built by Jesuit missionaries on the same spot. The chapel is dedicated to Monsignor Virgilio Yap, who initiated efforts to build the museum. It contains the impressive Carmen collection, which is composed of a tabernacle, gradas and altar panels encased in etched silver from the parish church of Carmen, Cebu .

The galleries are found on the second floor. The first gallery shows the beginnings of the Catholic faith in the Philippines and the history of the Archdiocese of Cebu. The story is told through photographs, illustrations and texts from various historical sources. There are pictures showing what the cathedral and the surrounding area looked like before the bombs of World War II destroyed them. I could not help but feel an aching sense of loss when I saw these pictures.

The second gallery contains memorabilia of Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the third archbishop of Cebu. The third gallery shows details in the construction of churches during the Spanish period. The fourth gallery contains Spanish-era statues of saints from different parishes of Cebu. The fifth gallery shows the "regalia of worship". The archdiocesan collection of chalices, cruets, ciboriums and sacras are displayed here. The sixth gallery shows a typical bedroom of a priest in Cebu. Antique furniture and books are found in this gallery.

At the short program before the blessing of the museum by Cardinal Vidal, I learned that the reestablishment of the museum was made possible through the efforts of dedicated volunteers and generous donors. While they have contributed so much, work on the museum is not yet done. There are plans to build a garden where receptions could be held. Maintaining the building is also expensive. I am hopeful that everyone will continue to give their time and material resources to ensure that the museum is completed.

Quoting Pope John Paul II, the museum brochure states that "...the museum aims to make communities understand the importance of its past, nourish a sense of belonging to the territory in which it lives...unite the value of Memory to prophecy by safeguarding the tangible signs of ecclesiastical tradition..." While I still have a long way to go in my quest to learn more about being Catholic, visiting the museum gave me a better perspective-that of a Cebuano Catholic who belongs to an illustrious tradition of faith.

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