The Novena Centers on Fellowship

The nine day preparation for the dedication of the church had all these daily activities that include the ff: welcoming the different parishes by vicariate who come as pilgrims to the mother parish of the diocese which is the St. Joseph the Worker Parish. They are joined by the GKKs from different zones who serves as the host of the day’s activity. The groups received a two hour recollection from Fr Bong Lunas, the parish priest who talks about the church, its structure, parts and sections and explained the liturgical meanings that accompanied each feature. After the recollection, the pilgrims and the host GKKs join together for the Agape lunch where they are also entertained by the Parish youth and children at the SMA covered court. The afternoon starts with a sacrament of reconciliation which is followed by a Novena prayer, then the celebration of the Eucharist presided by the visiting priest of the day. The activities prior and during the parochial fiesta is limited to liturgical activities in nature. This is the church’s response towards promoting a no-soliciting-no-accepting of any form of gifts from any political figures to support an honest election. The different priests who come with their respective parishioners were happy to be welcomed back to the parish, most of them have been serving the St Joseph Parish at some point in their lives as priests, while the parishioners from other parishes understood better the history of the diocese and how it started in Sta Cruz under the diocese of Zamboanga. Fr. Bong emphasized that the celebration is not to be celebrated by the St Joseph parishioners only, it is a celebration of the whole diocese. It is indeed a celebration of how our faith began in Sta Cruz sometime in the year 1941 when the Jesuits opened up the St Joseph the worker Parish in Santa Cruz.