Sacred Heart Parish awards Fr. Arevalo

In line with its anniversary celebration, the Sacred Heart Parish conferred the Cor Ad Cor Award to Rev. Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ, STD and Ambassador Howard Dee on July 6 during the 6 p.m. Mass of the Sacred Heart Parish Church.

Father Arevalo was recognized for his outstanding ministry of promoting the theology and spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while Ambassador Dee, for his social development work for the poor and indigenous people.

Father Arevalo is a recipient of the Vatican’s Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (For Church and Pope) award, the highest medal that can be bestowed by the papacy for distinguished service to the church by lay people and clergy. He was also acknowledged as the “Dean of all Filipino Theologians and Godfather of Hundreds of Priests,” a title conferred upon him by the Church hierarchy.

He is known as the long-time spiritual adviser of the late former president Corazon C. Aquino. The Jesuit theologian also wrote “Pedro Calungsod, Young Visayan Proto-Martyr.”

Ambassador Dee is former ambassador to the Vatican and the sole recipient of the 2006 Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Award. He has been involved in many peace advocacy projects in Muslim Mindanao. He has also penned books on living the Christian faith? God’s Greatest Gift, Mankind’s Final Destiny, and Living the Beatitudes with St. Joseph.

Also in celebration of its 60th year of service to the Chinese and the Cebuano communities and its recent canonical erection as Archdiocesan Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart Parish will hold a musical production titled “Hearts on Fire: Celebrating history, faith and community” on Friday July 13 at 8 p.m. at Sacred Heart Parish Church on D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City.

The production will show the history of the parish—from the coming of the Jesuit missionaries to Parian  who introduced the Catholic faith to the Chinese community, to the departure of the Jesuit fathers, from the establishment of Our Lady Queen of China on  P. Burgos Street until the construction of its present church building dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at D. Jakosalem Street.

The history of the Chinese Catholics in Cebu goes back to the Pentecost Sunday of 1595 when Fr. Chirino, SJ, baptized two prominent leaders of the Chinese community, Don Lorenzo Ungac and Don Tomas Tuigan.

Audio-visual presentations of parish events since the 1950s will be interspersed throughout the five-part production. The new hymn to the Sacred Heart entitled “Make Our Hearts Like Yours,” composed by Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ will launch during the last segment of the production.

“Hearts on Fire: Celebrating History, Faith, and Community” is directed by Msgr. Augustine Ancajas with the musical direction of Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ. It will be participated by the different parish communities as well as guest artists from around the Archdiocese of Cebu.

No entrance fee will be charged but the parish community will accept donations before and after the show.

For inquiries on the musical play, contact Fr. Jason Dy, SJ, at 253-6479, 255-1149, 254-3950 and 254-2505 or email at [email protected].