MANILA, Feb. 5, 2013—A Lenten program of the Catholic Church’s Social Action commission will launch a simultaneous Lenten Campaign in three dioceses.
Alay Kapwa (AK), a Lenten evangelization program of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-NASSA) will launch its National Lenten Campaign in the archdiocese of Caceres in Naga in Luzon, the dioceses of Catarman in Visayas and Digos in Mindanao.
Catarman diocese will launch the campaign with a series of activities from February 13 to 15, while Digos will launch it on February 15 and Nueva Caceres archdiocese on February 20.
Dioceses take turns in hosting the launch of National Lenten Campaign every year.
But beginning this year, hosting will be done simultaneously by three dioceses, instead of only one, Nassa announced in a statement.
Two reasons were given for the change during the 36th National Social Action General Assembly (NASAGA) gathering held in Zambales City last August 2012.
The first reason given was the big number of dioceses in the country. With 86 dioceses all over the nation, it will take ages before all the dioceses will be able to host the event.
The AK program was created in 1975, and since then, only 20 dioceses have been recorded to have hosted the campaign.
To bridge the gap, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, NASSA National Director, recommended the National Launching be held by region.
“This way, the AK program’s promotion and campaign can be widened and strengthened at a shorter time, through the hosting of more dioceses,” the statement said.
The second reason cited was that in previous years only neighboring dioceses attend the launching of the Lenten campaign.
If launched in the Mindanao region, no dioceses from the Visayas or Luzon attend the gathering. The same also happens when it is Luzon or Visayas’ turn to host.
“Thus, there is a need for a regional hosting to ensure wider participation and understanding of the Lenten campaign,” the statement added.
NASSA stressed that through this new approach, more faithful will be reached to respond to the AK mission of evangelization.
Themed “Challenges and Responses of Stewardship in the Year of Faith”, this year’s campaign is formulated based on three references: a) last year’s AK theme “Stewardship is Discipleship”; b) this year’s celebration of the Year of Faith; and c) by reading the signs of the times.
The campaign comes with a booklet of modules for facilitating reflection and social action for the formational aspect of Alay Kapwa and a Lenten Box for collection as an expression of charity and solidarity from parishes, as well as Catholic schools and institutions in Metro Manila. (Jandel Posion/CBCPNews)
