Archbishop Ricardo Baccay urged the Tuguegarao Archdiocesan School System (TASS) to share their giftedness in his homily during the Eucharistic celebration of TASS launching of the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines on April 16, 2021.
‘This is my appeal to you, my dear brothers and sisters in this apostolate: I know there are demands of this work and because of these demands, we have a claim on the rights that we should enjoy. But I am encouraging you, dear collaborators, dear friends, [and] dear students, let us share our giftedness and the many precious things that we received throughout the history of faith in our country, and especially in our local church,’ the prelate said via live streaming on Facebook.
Moreover, Archbishop Baccay warned the faithful of the self-entitlement mentality in the church.
“We do not only do it by reason of a legal right to claim privilege, but by divine vocation, you are to share,” he added.
Baccay, the archbishop of Tuguegarao and the chairman of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)-Episcopal Commission for Bioethics, led the TASS commemoration of the country’s 500th Anniversary of the first Christian baptism and called on the people’s participation in God’s work.
“Today, I, together with the hierarchy in the Church, the priests and all our leaders, would invite you to look at our history 500 years ago as the Lord’s miracle, which of course, needed, above all, generosity from people…God gives but He uses the little [we] have,” he said.
Further, the prelate encouraged the faithful to cherish our faith’s rich history and consider the 500 Years of our Christianity in the country as God’s faithfulness.
“My dear brothers and sisters, the first mass in Limasawa, the first baptism in Cebu, the arrival of missionaries and here in 1565, the building of the many churches and our schools, hospitals and other infastructures that are outside of the confides of the Church and some services in and outside of the Church across time and emergence of Filipino missionaries, all of these are to be recognized…[as] miracles and they happened because God’s fidelity is there,” the prelate said.
TASS Superintendent Fr. Adalbert Barut, TASS Supervisor Fr. Dennis Jake Ordillos and Director of Lyceum de Amulung Fr. Kristian Noel Sibbaluca concelebrated in the holy mass.
By: Reagan Q. De Leon
