Day of Prayer: Clergy, religious of DADITAMA subregion respond to CBCP’s call

In response to the call of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ declaration of 2018 as Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, a gathering in Davao City was organized and attended by the clergy and religious from Davao Region, May 11.

Dubbed as the Day of Prayer, close to 300 members of the clergy and religious from the Dioceses of Davao, Digos, Tagum and Mati (the DADITAMA) ecclesiastical sub-region participated in the whole day activity held at the University of the Immaculate Conception

Archbishop of Cotabato Orlando Cardinal Quevedo was the speaker for the day and he talked about the communion of the clergy and consecrated persons in the renewal of the local church in view of 2021, the fifth centennial of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines.

Cardinal Quevedo divided his topic into two: The diocese as communion and the direction of church renewal in the local church.

“The Diocese is Communion because the whole Church by its very nature is Communion,” he said.

Quoting Lumen Gentium, no. 51, the Cardinal added that “Communion is the ‘deepest vocation of the Church'”.

As to the direction of church renewal in the local church, the Archbishop of Cotabato said that there’s a “need for ongoing metanoia, or deep conversion of mind and heart of all members, individual and collective, into faithful discipleship in Christ; change of mind-sets, and lifestyles, of relationships, etc.”

“Be like Christ, have the attitude of Christ,” he added.

The participants also had their benediction and Holy Hour, small group sharing, followed by the Holy Mass officiated by CBCP President and Archbishop of Davao Romulo G. Valles.

Davao’s Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Fr. Leonie España said the Day of Prayer is the first of its kind for all the clergy and consecrated persons in the DADITAMA sub-region.

The Day of Prayer aims to help the clergy and consecrated persons renew and revisit their values, mindsets, behavior, and lifestyles in line with the CBCP pastoral exhortation on the “Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons.” (with reports from Mark Joy G. Basallajes)