THE FILIPINO CATHOLIC LAITY
FILIPINO CATHOLIC LAITY – CALLED TO BE SAINTS…
SENT FORTH AS HEROES
(Delivered by: Jedson Marie Tonogan)
Seven years from today, year 2014, in the year 2021, the Philippines will be celebrating 500 years of Christianity, specifically, of Catholicism. History teaches us that in the year 1521, Ferdinand Magellan stepped on the shores of these 7000 plus islands and planted the cross of the Catholic Faith, thereby making this archipelago the first Catholic, nay, Christian nation in this part of the world, the Asian continent,
In preparation for this celebration, a providential event, our church has planned seven years of intensive evangelization with a theme for every year. Thus, year 2013 was celebrated as the Year of the Faith. This year 2014, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines designated it to be the Year of the Laity.
What, one may ask, does the Year of the Laity signify? To answer this query is to know initially the meaning of LAITY. Laity refers to all the people who are not members of the clergy or men not ordained for religious service. Simply, the word laity refers to layman of the religious faith not belonging to the clergy. For you and me and for all Filipinos for that matter who belong to the Mother Church of the Catholic faith, laity refers to the vast majority of the Filipinos who profess the Catholic religion. Laity therefore are the laymen of the Catholic Church. In our beloved Philippines, there is no other laity but the Catholic laity and this year 2014, our Mother Church calls for the Filipino laity to approximate the saints who she will be sending forth as heroes of the faith.
WE, the LAITY, are called by the Mother Church to be living saints of the Catholic faith given by the Lord special responsibility to find our own sanctification, to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Spoken plainly, we are called upon to live as the saints lived and to make sacrifices as the saints did, to sanctify
SENT FORTH AS HEROES
(Delivered by: Jedson Marie Tonogan)
Seven years from today, year 2014, in the year 2021, the Philippines will be celebrating 500 years of Christianity, specifically, of Catholicism. History teaches us that in the year 1521, Ferdinand Magellan stepped on the shores of these 7000 plus islands and planted the cross of the Catholic Faith, thereby making this archipelago the first Catholic, nay, Christian nation in this part of the world, the Asian continent,
In preparation for this celebration, a providential event, our church has planned seven years of intensive evangelization with a theme for every year. Thus, year 2013 was celebrated as the Year of the Faith. This year 2014, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines designated it to be the Year of the Laity.
What, one may ask, does the Year of the Laity signify? To answer this query is to know initially the meaning of LAITY. Laity refers to all the people who are not members of the clergy or men not ordained for religious service. Simply, the word laity refers to layman of the religious faith not belonging to the clergy. For you and me and for all Filipinos for that matter who belong to the Mother Church of the Catholic faith, laity refers to the vast majority of the Filipinos who profess the Catholic religion. Laity therefore are the laymen of the Catholic Church. In our beloved Philippines, there is no other laity but the Catholic laity and this year 2014, our Mother Church calls for the Filipino laity to approximate the saints who she will be sending forth as heroes of the faith.
WE, the LAITY, are called by the Mother Church to be living saints of the Catholic faith given by the Lord special responsibility to find our own sanctification, to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Spoken plainly, we are called upon to live as the saints lived and to make sacrifices as the saints did, to sanctify