Bishops, priests to meet for 9th Visayas Reg'l Assembly

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – At least 18 bishops, 25 monsignori and several priests and lay leaders from various dioceses from Romblon to Samar will converge in Dumaguete City on October 14 to 16 for the 9th Visayas Regional Pastoral Assembly.

Monsignor Julius Perpetuo Heruela, parish priest of Bacong and in charge of the preparations for the assembly, said the Dumaguete diocese is expecting a total of 152 delegates from 18 dioceses in Romblon, Panay, Cebu, Negros, Bohol, Leyte and Samar, and those under the archdioceses of Capiz, Jaro in Iloilo, Cebu and Palo in Leyte.

On the first day of the assembly, Archbishop John Du of the Archdiocese of Palo will preside a concelebrated Mass at the Saint Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral in this city, and then Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes will deliver his welcome remarks.

Some of the activities include talks by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma about the 51st International Eucharistic Congress and lay formation and stewardship by Reverend Father Amado Picardal, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' committee on basic ecclesial communities.

There will also be a presentation of plans per metropolitan province and then a book launching in honor of the late Most Reverend Onesimo Gordoncillo, former archbishop of the Archdiocese of Capiz. At the conclusion of the assembly, the group will present for approval its assembly statement.

As a backgrounder, Pope Pius XII in 1954 instituted the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be celebrated on May 31. Then in 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the feast to August 22, making it a memorial during the octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1996, the Visayas Regional Pastoral Assembly voted unanimously to celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the entire Visayas, as the feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1997, the CBCP confirmed the request of the Bishops of the Visayas. In the same year, Pope John Paul II granted the indult for the Visayas to celebrate August 22 as a Patronal Feast and added to the feast the title: Our Lady, Queen of the Visayas, according to Heruela.