Metro Cebu parishes to help storm-battered churches

Metro Cebu parishes will help churches in northern Cebu churches ravaged by supertyphoon Yolanda.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma held an emergency meeting with the different committees of the Archdiocese of Cebu to map out how they are going to help at least 20 parishes in Northern Cebu.

“We have agreed to have a mutual aid fund here. The Metro Cebu parishes will help the northern parishes affected by Yolanda. Each parish in Metro Cebu is assigned to help a parish in north Cebu,” said Msgr. Achilles Dakay who was requested by Palma to speak in his behalf to the media.

Most of our churches in the north are ruined.

Dakay said parishes in the archdiocese are also mandated to have second collections for victims of supertyphoon Yolanda.

Pope Francis earlier conveyed his sympathies and offered a special prayer for all those affected by supertyphoon Yolanda in the Philippines.

The Holy Father, through Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, also sent a telegram to President Benigno Aquino III to express the Pope’s heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by the storm and its aftermath.

Msgr. Dakay debunked innuendoes that God chose to punish the Philippines by sending calamities.

“Earthquakes, floods, tornado, typhoons. These are all acts of nature. Of course, God knows and God permits them to happen. But when He allows evil things to happen, it’s because he has the power to draw good out of evil. He has a reason for everything,” Dakay said.

In a catastrophe, Dakay said Filipinos showed how it is to help others in need.

“As a whole we learn lessons. It’s good we realized that everything in this world is destructible. But God allows them, for example, so we may help one another,” he said.

Dakay said the Cebu Caritas, which is the agency mandated by the archdiocese for works of mercy, is on top of sending various aids to victims of supertyphoon Yolanda.

The affected parishes in the north are San Vicente Ferrer Church in Bogo City; Virgen delos Remedios in Odlot, Bogo City; Holy Family Parish in La Paz, Bogo City; Sta. Rosa de Lima Parish in Daanbantayan; Sto. Niño Parish in Medellin; St. Ignatius de Loyola Parish in Medellin; San Isidro Labrador Parish in Daanbantayan; San Miguel Parish in Daanbantayan; Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Medellin; Our Lady of the Visitation Parish in Daanbantayan; San Isidro Labrador Parish in Tabogon; San Juan Nepomuceno Parish in San Remigio; St. Martin de Porres Parish in Tabogon; Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Bantayan; San Isidro Labrador Parish in Bantayan; San Vicente Ferrer; Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Madridejos; Sto. Niño Parish in Sta. Fe; Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bantayan; and St. Paul Parish in Borbon. /Ador Vincent S. Mayol, Reporter