Group to set 9-day Masses for Pope’s visit

MANILA -— The Company of Saint Dominic (CSD), a secular institute under the wing of the Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM), is prepping for the forthcoming Philippine trip of Pope Francis by having nine-day Masses offered for the Holy Father’s safety. We are eyeing for no less than the best spiritual preparation for the papal visit,” said Fr. Nestor Limqueco, OP, a college instructor as well as a professed member of CSD.Catechesis for kidsHe told CBCP News in an interview that spiritual preparations top the laundry list of activities they have in store for the Holy Father’s historic apostolic and state visit to Asia’s largest Catholic nation set on Jan. 15 to 19. We will also be providing catechesis to the children of Legarda near Santa Catalina College in Sampaloc, Manila,” he shared.Limqueco added all CSD members have been required to take part in the three-day Second Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE II) to be held at the University of Santo Tomás (UST) on Jan. 15 to 17, which they expect will give them fresh insights on how to more effectively proclaim the Good News amid an increasingly secularized world.WYD veteranLimqueco, a proud veteran of Pope John Paul II’s World Youth Day (WYD) of 1995, said they at CSD looks forward to a fruitful and grace-filled encounter with the Argentine pontiff. At that time, I was still a lay Dominican and a professional catechist … I was one of those tasked to ready high school students for the outdoor Mass at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta … I was also part of the huge crowd gathered at UST ground with my Dominican family,” he noted. I was involved in the making of modules and the formation of public school catechists,” he added.What made the 1995 papal visit different from the forthcoming, Limqueco observed, was that their series of catechetical formations then ran for almost two months.Poorand focus of Pope’s visit Since I’m now connected to private schools and this secular institute, I expect that my participation this time around will be more on the sidelines. The forthcoming papal event is not another World Youth Day celebration and its organizers have less than a year to prepare for it, he stated. Besides, the focus will be on the poor and marginalized, particularly survivors of recent calamities like Yolanda [Haiyan],” Limqueco stressed.(Raymond A. Sebastián/CBCP News)