Parents urged: ‘Don’t discourage your kids from becoming priests’
Sto. Niño Parish clerics Fathers Niño Escaloran (left) and Wilson Chu (right) cheer up female inmates at the Tacloban City Jail as part of the parish’s month-long spiritual activities. STO. NIÑO DE TACLOBAN PARISH
TACLOBAN City – “Do not prevent your children who want to be priests or religious.”
This was the emphatic message of a priest during his homily at a Dec. 23 Simbang Gabi Mass, held at the Sto. Niño Parish Church.
“A child is a grace from God and there are among you whose children want to serve God by being priest or religious, thus it is the moment for you to say yes to their calling and allow them to follow such calling,” explained Fr. Niño Escaloran, underscoring the role of priests and consecrated persons in evangelization.
No priest, no Mass
The priest also stressed the unique privilege of priests, saying: “There is no Mass if there are no priests to celebrate it.”
The Parish of Sto. Niño de Tacloban, in collaboration with the Daughters of St. Paul congregation, the St. John the Evangelist School of Theology, and the Sacred Heart Seminar have been consistently inviting young people to consider the religious or priestly vocation.
Within the 9-year preparation of the Catholic Church in the Philippines for the fifth centenary of Christianity of the Philippines, two bishops emerged from the clergy of the Archdiocese of Palo.
Pope Francis appointed SJEST formator Fr. Oscar Jamie Florencio as Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu in 2016 together with Fr. Oscar Villarojo.
In July 2017, the Holy Father appointed him apostolic administrator of the Military Ordinariate concurrent with his being Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu.
Proud of his priests
A new bishop was also appointed in October in the person of Msgr. Rex Ramirez, who at the time was rector of the Palo Metropolitan Cathedral.
In an earlier interview, Palo Archbishop John Forroosuelo Du remarked, “I am very proud of my priests in the Archdiocese of Palo.”
He said the appointment of a new bishop from Palo is an affirmation of the “commitment shown by our local priests.”
“What we are witnessing is a communion among the priests, and because of that, God has blessed us to be privileged, a gift to have a bishop,” said the prelate. CBCPNews
