BACS and CEACAL president Fr. Rex Andrew Alarcon gives the overview of the General Assembly. (Photo: Natalie Hazel Quimlat)
NAGA City, July 13, 2016 – With the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines’ theme for its 75th year “Towards 2021: New Spirit, New Fervour at 75”, Southern Tagalog’s Catholic schools gear up in the same direction, anticipating as well the 500th year of the coming of Christianity to the Philippines in 2021.
“What does it mean to be a Catholic school in the 21st century? How Catholic are our Catholic schools? Where are we being led to go [and] how do we prepare?” These were some of the questions raised at the annual Bikol Association of Catholic Schools (BACS) General Assembly held on July 8, at the Basilica Hall, Basilica Minore de Peñafrancia.
Themed “Bikol Catholic Schools: Learning, Preparing and Serving Communities”, in this year’s regional assembly, BACS invited its member schools to revisit the three dimensions of faith and how these schools strive to fulfill them:
- learning (doctrine)
- praying (worship)
- serving (moral)
Keynote speaker, Dominican Provincial and International Theological Commission member, Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner, O.P. discussed the importance of quality Christian formation today, emphasizing that one’s formation today shows who one will be in the future “[a]s a student, as a professional.”
The priest challenged the school heads and teachers to develop and strengthen the value of honesty in their students and to exercise the “culture of encounter”, Pope Francis call to bring Christ to the marginalized sectors of the world.
Apart from Timoner, CEAP president and Araneta University president Br. Narciso Erguiza, F.S.C.; CEAP executive director Allan Arellano; CEAP Plans, Programs and Research Officer Mary Ann Cruz; and CEAP Region IV Trustee and PCSS Technical Working Group member Fr. Alain Manalo were present at the said event. (Natalie Hazel Quimlat/CBCPNews)
