Leyte prays a month after ‘Yolanda’

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Faith still runs deep in Leyte a month after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” rampaged through the province as survivors held the Eucharistic celebration to remember the unprecedented onslaught of the disaster.

Fr. Isagani Petilos, parish priest of Santo Niño Church, celebrated the nine o’clock Mass Sunday morning as part of the Day of Prayer and Remembrance to commemorate the thousands who perished due to Yolanda, a statement said.

Petilos said life in the Tacloban is gradually returning to normal with some offices opening and schools resuming classes the past week.

“We are moving towards normalcy already. As you can see, aside from the clean streets, stores have started to open. We are starting to eat fish,” Petilos said.

Aside from the regular Sunday Masses, Sto. Niño Parish would also hold a “grand Mass” in the afternoon.

“In this celebration, I was so surprised that our church now is also full and standing,” Petilos said. “As in every other normal Sunday, we always have mass-goers that fill up the church, so we’re hoping that we’re slowly moving towards normalcy.”

Sto. Niño Parish priests were also expected to carry out blessing ceremonies on the burial sites at Suhi and Basper.

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