Photo: City Information Office
GKK: The way of being church in the Diocese of Tagum
Photo: City Information Office
GKK building in all of the dioceses in DADITAMA is not merely a program or an apostolate, not even just a “pastoral priority”. It is as PCP 2 observes:
… Basic Ecclesial Communities …. are small communities of Christians, usually of families who gather together around the Word of God and the Eucharist ….united to their pastors but are ministered to regularly by lay leaders. The members know each other by name, and share not only the Word of God and the Eucharist but also their concerns both material and spiritual. They have a strong sense of belongingness and of responsibility for one another …. consciously integrate their faith and their daily life. They are guided and encouraged by regular catechesis.
The “G” in GKK represents the word ‘gamay’ or small indicating that the GKK is small enough (25 – 50 families) so as to allow members to interact with each other and acquire belongingness and responsibility for one another. As Fr. Emmanuel Nabayra wrote in his unpublished memoirs as parish priest of Sta. Teresita Parish in Nabunturan (1971 – 1975), wrote:
When a kapilya organization have too many members, only a few are involved in its growth; a small kapilya organization is lively because all its members have an assignment to do.
As a natural community, it is composed of families living in a neighborhood whose members come from different walks of life and social status; yet, they share with one another because “no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as to have nothing to receive”.
The BEC or GKK is recognized in the Second Plenary Council (PCP II, 1991) and encouraged to be organized by the National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal (NPCCR, 2001) as a potent agent of Church renewal in the Philippines.
TAGUM GRATEFULLY REMEMBERS ITS SOWERS
In Tagum, the GKK has become the basic unit of the Church since the Prelature Pastoral Planning Assembly (PPPA) in 1976 declared that the building of Gagmayng Kristohanong Katilingban (Small Christian Communities) to be the pastoral thrust of the then Prelature of Tagum. Any Catholic, whether living in the town center or in the far-flung and mountain area, professional or non-professional, would either personally choose or is encouraged by others to be a member of the GKK in his/her area.
The idea of the GKK in the Diocese of Tagum did not just surface as a yearning to change approach or simply to copy what others were already doing and find effective for them or in order to prove that one can do a better performance. Its birth, albeit planned and was awaited, came with some degree of pain; its implementation is not a smooth sailing experience.
There are people and groups who are worthy to give thanks to. First, the missionaries: Jesuits, PME and Maryknoll Fathers. Responding to the “systematic evangelization” issued by King Philip II on April 21, 1594 assigning different religious congregations to evangelize and convert the natives in Mindanao. The Jesuits arrived in eastern Mindanao in 1596 and in the northern part of the present Davao Oriental in 1873. Despite hostilities of some baganis, the hazardous trails, dark and terror-filled jungles, and the deep and raging rivers, they bravely sowed the seeds of Christianity and organized the natives along the shores into parishes. Caraga, Davao Oriental, which celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1983 and its church recognized by the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA) in 2012 as a historical marker, was among the first parishes in the island long before Zamboanga was elevated as a diocese in 1910.
The PME Fathers, les Prêtres des Missiones Étrangères de Québec, who came in 1939, resolutely continued what the Jesuits started despite being restrained by World War II. Crossing the Davao Gulf from Davao City, they went inland to visit the villages in the present Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, taught catechism, trained catechists, offered mass, baptized, solemnized marriages, performed extreme unction, etc. hiking around the area because until the mid-50s the only road available from Davao City to the north ended in Nabunturan.
In collaboration with the locals, they established parishes in strategic places: Pantukan (1940) in the Eastern part of the present diocese of Tagum (1947) in the center, Panabo (1954) in the southern part, and Nabunturan (1951) in the northern side. Bishop Clovis Thibault, PME, D.D., first bishop of Davao City, also invited religious congregations to take care of the youth’s formation. The Religious of the Virigin Mary (RVM) established the Holy Cross College in Tagum (1946), now St. Mary’s College (SMC), and the Daughters of Mary of the Assumption (FMA) built the Assumption Academy of Nabunturan(1954), now Assumption College of Nabunturan (ACN).
In 1958, upon invitation from Bishop Thibault, the Maryknoll Fathers left their mission in Laguna to take care of the fast growing population in the towns north of Davao City due to the influx of migrants from Visayas and Luzon especially after World War II. Aside from those erected in Davao Oriental, which was a part of the Church of Tagum until 1985, more parishes were erected – Compostela, Monkayo, Mawab, Maco, Mabini, Maragusan, Montevista, and Laac in the present Compostela Valley; Maniki, Sto. Tomas, Asuncion, and New Corella in the present Davao del Norte. The Maryknoll High School was erected in Panabo, Sto. Tomas, Maniki, Asuncion, New Corella, Maco and Mabini. Built in the late 60s were Christ the King Hospital (CKH), the Queen of Apostles Seminary (QAS) and the Radio Station DXCD. Service agencies such as the Social Action Center (SAC) for farmers, families, youth, teachers, etc.; and Christian Formation Center (CFC) for the catechists and native work were also created. The early 70s saw the creation of the Lay Leadership Institute (LLI) for the chapel lay liturgical leaders and the Apostolate for Cultural Communities (ACC) for comprehensive pastoral care for the ethnic tribes in the area.
Second, one should not forget the fervor of the migrants from all over the country, who, encouraged by the government’s invitation to Mindanao the Land of Promise, brought with them their devotions and faith practices. Their need for community support in strange and lonely frontiers transformed their family devotion to a community celebration gathering even those from the neighboring homesteads to participate in the nine-day novena and celebrate their sponsor’s favorite saint’s feast day. Later, they would organize themselves and choose their hermano/a to lead their celebrations. Through him/her, the community invited a priest from Davao City, or the nearest parish, to say the mass. The priest would arrive on the day before the fiesta and would join the community in the procession in honor of their patron saint, celebrate Mass on the day of the fiesta, administered the sacraments such as Baptism, Marriage, Confession, and Extreme Unction, and taught the people about the doctrines of the Church. The community did not just sustain their religiosity and preserve their Catholic faith. Their gathering also established friendship and belongingness among themselves.
It was not only the priest who was invited by the migrants. In his unpublished memoirs, Fr. Nabayra mentioned that one Kadyo Reuma, a lay thespian from the Visayas, would be invited with his group during the Lenten season to present a play on the passion of Christ. He would also give some lectures regarding the Church doctrines.
Third, we also gratefully remember Sr. Narcisa Fernandez. FMA, whose compositions of the 70s till the 90s did not only make the liturgy vibrant but also meaningful. Her songs, both their lyrics and melody touching the Filipino soul, were sung in all the churches in the Diocese of Tagum as well as in most parts of Mindanao and in Visayas.
THE CHALLENGE: CREATE SELF-SUPPORTING FILIPINO PARISHES
From the beginning, the Maryknoll Fathers made it clear that as missionaries, they were not staying permanently. For Tagum, they were working towards the congregation’s objectives, in the following order: a) formation of native priests, b) formation of native brothers and sisters, c) training of catechists, d) social action, and e) indigenous peoples.
Early on, they involved the laity in realizing these goals by encouraging lay organizations such as the Holy Name Society and Adoracion Nocturna for men, Catholic Women’s League for women, Legion of Mary to campaign for marriage validation and reception of sacraments, Seminary Aid Crusade to support seminarians, etc. Bishop Regan visited the schools encouraging the students to become priests and nuns. Is it providential that weeks after the conclusion of the Vatican II (December 8, 1965), the staunchest campaigner for vocations, ordained the first two Filipino priests (December 21, 1965). Is it also providential that on October 24, 1994, minutes before the mass where Rev. Fr. Arnulfo Tiplaca, the first Mansaka descendant to be ordained, Lolo Bishop Regan died.
In the late ‘60s, the priests in the parishes such as in Monkayo in COMVAL, Lupon and Mati in Davao Oriental were already gathering the presidents of the community-based chapels in a Chapel Presidents League for sharing and planning. The Barangay sang Birhen introduced by the PME Missionaries was revived. The Cursillos de Cristianidad and the Parish Leadership Seminar were introduced. SAC, organized in 1968, encouraged the people in the parishes to be concerned of the socio-economic-political-cultural situation, and to involve in projects that may help the community improve their life condition.
True to their objectives, the Maryknoll missionaries issued the challenge to the first Filipino priests to develop the Church in Tagum to become self-supporting. In response, the Filipino priests, already numbering seven – Rev. Fr. Gaudioso Buen, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Nabayra, Rev. Fr. Jose Sison, Rev. Fr. Ruben Birondo, Rev. Fr. Raymundo Honor, Rev. Fr. Dioscoro Bocod, and Rev. Fr. Romulo Malooy – asked to be assigned in the northern parishes of the prelature. They called the area the Nabunturan Deanery.
Young and inexperienced in running a parish while at the same time searching for their identity as Filipino diocesan priests in Mindanao, they felt that for such an undertaking, proximity to one another and constant camaraderie among them were imperative. It was not as if this proximity was a comfortable situation for them considering their different personalities. But they realized that “if we are to work as a group, we must learn how to survive as a unit in spite of personal differences and quarrels, in spite of insults and frustrations with one another.” As soon as their request was granted, they went into a five-day session to share their personal vision and views, and after some heated arguments, reached a common point “that in one way or another all Christians must feel themselves as Church”. Therefore, “everybody in the Parish should be given the opportunity to experience the Church”, which is “to be lived” and not merely stocked as theological knowledge.
So in 1971 began the rough-and-tumble venture that would make concrete in five parishes – Nabunturan, Mawab, Monkayo, Compostela and later New Corella – the Nabunturan Deanery – the aggiornamento inspired by Vatican 2. Early on, the GKKs were organized in line with MSPC II’s (1974) theme of forming “self-governing, self-nourishing, and self-sustaining basic Christian communities” and of MSPC I’s (1971) theme of building Christian communities that worship together, teach one another, and serve each other.
Although each priest and parish had different approaches, their methods in building GKKs had some commonalities. For one, they continued the different organizations and projects that the missionaries started. They also copied what were done in Lupon Deanery, which the Diocese of Tagum recognized as where the idea of building small Christian communities was conceived and endeavored to be realized in 1968. SAC-initiated projects like credit unions, cooperatives, Federation of Free Farmers, youth group organizing, among others, encouraged widespread involvement among the parishioners and “spread like fire all over the prelature because they realized that the Church is also concerned about the temporal welfare or the material needs of the people”.
The meetings, assemblies, election of officers, workshops, celebrations and other activities such as tagbo (bayanihan) and dayong (helping each other in time of one member’s needs, especially at the time of death or illness of a family member) of the different groups contributed to the deepening of faith life of the GKK members, who, as a community shared and offered to the Lord their daily life’s concern during their GKK weekly Kasaulogan sa Pulong (Liturgy of the Word).
These called for training of the chapel leaders and parish apostolate workers. So, initiated by the priests, and led by the Parish Coordinators and the different apostolate coordinators, modules were made for the chapel leaders’ training, which included, among others, facilitating, organizing, evaluation-planning, simplified recording and bookkeeping, module-making and lesson planning, and teaching methods aside from the Christian doctrines and other religious courses.
One radical move taken to implement the MSPC 1 & 2 themes and the Vat. II co-participation and co-responsibility was the adoption of the Volunteer Catechists Program from Lupon Deanery. Under the VolCat Program, GKKs were motivated to choose their own catechists who would teach the children in the barrio and the poblacion public schools during the school year and in their respective chapels during the Flores de Mayo. As the program’s name implies, the catechists prepared and handled religion classes every week and the whole month of May as well as attend their regular meetings and on-going trainings offering their three T’s – time, talent, treasure – sans monetary compensation. On their own volition, though, the GKK officers and members alloted some amount from their GKK funds for the support of at least the transportation and materials for writing materials and visual aids of their chosen catechist/s.
Like the catechists, the Kaabags did faithfully their tasks in leading the community during the weekly Kasaulogan sa Pulong, responding to the requests of the GKK members for blessing, performing other para-liturgical ceremonies entrusted to lay cooperators and attending trainings to enhance and deepen their commitment and spirituality. Later, a Kaabag of one GKK would also serve their neighboring GKKs when the latter’s Kaabag was unavailable.
DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS
One, the passivity and “yes, father” attitude of the people. Used to simply going to mass and praying but not involving in the management of the faith life of the community, it took some time for the laity to understand that every Church member as part of that One Body of Christ with a distinct role and equal dignity as the other “agents of renewal” is co-participant and co-responsible in fulfilling the Church mission entrusted to her by no other than Jesus Christ; that while helping greatly, leading the novena for the dead or in honor of the patron saint, or fulfilling the things that the mandated organizations were then doing, were not enough. The lay people, as one part of the Church in the parish, must involve themselves in decision-making and in implementing the community decisions for the good of the community and of every member. This was clearly explained later in PCP II,
The lay faithful have been incorporated by Baptism into Christ, and thus belong to the Church. They have received a real consecration – their baptismal consecration. They are as much members of the Church as the hierarchy or those belonging to institutes of sacred life. The lay faithful are not second class members. They share with all the baptized an equal Christian dignity.
It took about two years to educate the parishioners and to re-direct their attitude towards this end. One unforgettable experience was when the parish priest proposed to change all the fiesta dates on Thursdays so that the priest could visit each GKK at least during their fiesta to say mass, administer the sacraments, and listen to the GKK members. It so happened that many GKKs had the same patron saints while there were only two priests to serve the 96 GKKS, attend meetings of the mandated organizations, manage the parish, attend meetings in the prelature, offer daily mass and on other occasions, hear confession before the mass, and do many other things to take care of the parishioners’ spiritual needs. These activities were mostly performed during the weekdays. Weekends were spent in the parish center for offering masses, validating marriages, baptizing, and attending meetings of the apostolates and the Kapunungan sa mga Presidente sa Kapilya (KPK, Chapel Presidents League). The priests then could barely have time to study, read his breviary and attend to his own spiritual development. To convince the GKK members, the chapel presidents were first made to understand the situation and asked to make decision; then present, explain and get the approval of their respective members, who finally reluctantly agreed. The change of day of the fiesta resulted to great opposition especially in the poblacion and went as far as blaming the priest for the fire that razed down the town market on the eve of the town fiesta celebration. The priest used the catastrophe to show the parishioners the need for the laity to be involved in community-decision making, especially those affecting them.
Two, the difficulty of re-directing the orientation of those in the centers, the professionals and the well-off families. In fact, those living in far-flung areas and mountain villages were more enthusiastic in organizing their GKK. The schooled and prominent individuals found it difficult to accept that their GKK officials or Kaabag were mere barbero, mananggiti, or someone from the lower rung of the society. In addition, until those years, many men avoided from leading a liturgical activity. Again, education had a great role in re-directing this male aversion through inviting them to join the Cursillos de Cristianidad and giving them responsibility to lead the Barangay sang Birhen nightly community prayer, reading and studying the Apostolado, and the procession to bring the standarte to the adjacent neighbor. These drew men and women to heed the Church teachings and to involve in church activities. There were also the community assembly, inputs, election of officers, training of Kaabags and chapel leaders, formation of volunteer catechists, organizing of Chapel Presidents’ League.
Perhaps, one of the biggest problems, as it badly disturbed the prelature, occurred in 1976 and 1977 during the Martial Law Regime of the Marcos administration. Falsely accused of rebellion and inciting people to sedition, the heads of the different service agencies of the prelature, many parish workers and GKK Kaabags were put to prison, the radio station DXCD was closed, many GKK and IP leaders were harassed, some chapels in the IP communities were burned, and the valued term “GKK” was maliciously called “gagmayng komunista sa kabukiran” (small communist communities). However, Rev. Fr. Ruben Birondo saw this persecution to be positively encouraging because the effort of the prelature to empower the laity was so effective it caught the attention of the government, who also had to be educated regarding co-participation and co-responsibility as effective tool towards good governance. Twenty-six thousand signatures of GKK members belied the administration’s accusation and asked that the arbitrarily detained Church workers and leaders be freed. The GKKs continued to multiply. From the three original deaneries in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, the Diocese of Tagum has now 11 deaneries.
Three, one situation that needs to be given serious attention is the implementation of parish policies, which some observe to be stricter than what the canon law stipulates. As parish priest, Fr. Nabayra (1971 – 75) had to remind his parishioners that,
… they must take care with drafting very strict regulations. We must imitate Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who decided to leave the ninety-nine sheep in a safe place while He went to look for the one lost individual. Like a family, disciplinary rules of GKKs should be intended to strengthen the unity of the parish, not to drive members away from the communion. As leaders of the parish, they must be ready to make responsible changes in the policies and regulations regarding the physical aspects of parish administration.
Four, the mid-point assessment of the 1997 Diocesan Pastoral Plan conducted by Sr. Blesila Fabricante in 2002, showed that while the diocese has a high quantitative achievement in the plan’s implementation towards the diocesan vision-mission (in a scale of 10, a rating of 4- 5 from 192 respondents composing priests, sisters, diocesan and parish pastoral workers) than in qualitative measure. However, the researcher saw this is a positive sign.
THE GKK TODAY
From the collated data gathered during the 2007 Duaw-Panaw (Visit-Journey) and the sharing during the 3rd Diocesan Pastoral Assembly (DPA 3) last October 6 – 9, 2008, the parish delegates agreed on the following strategies:
- Comprehensive and continuous education and formation of the clergy, religious and lay faithful. Among the laity, those give the priority are the youth, family and indigenous peoples;
- Well-defined and unified structures, systems, and policies that would deepen the relationship with each other and provide financial sustainability for infrastructures, programs, and activities in the diocesan, parochial and GKK levels;
- Enhancing the leaders’ skills towards effective management, facilitating and organizing;
- Responsive to the concerns affecting the people: reproductive health, mina ug ekolohiya, media globalization, out-of-school youth, and income generating projects.
CONCLUSION
Last year, the Diocese of Tagum celebrated its 38th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of its GKK. The new bishop – Most Rev. Medel Aseo, DD – ordained and installed on June 2018, is not just a “native priest”, as the Maryknoll Fathers planned to produce, but a “native bishop” from Maniki, Davao del Norte.
Where are you to go, Diocese of Tagum GKKS? To what direction are you heading in order to become relevant as Church in our present problem-laden Filipino society?
From its erection as Prelature of Tagum in 1962 to being raised as diocese in 1980 and to its present status, the Diocese of Tagum has gone through a lot. At present, many realities have changed and not without challenges that are perhaps even greater, and more complicated and sophisticated than what its first Filipino priests encountered in their time. But, all through the years, the Church in Tagum, blessed with the ever-generous and supportive parishioners, has crossed each bridge and continued the journey.
Sr. Fabricante reminded:
In Tagum, there are many good things that have occurred and have been done that many dioceses would desire to have occurred and been done in their own place. But all the good things may be eroded and washed out if the concerned are not vigilant and do not care and nurture them.
Thus, there is a need for all Tagum workers in the vineyard – the priests, religious, and laity – to be more sensitive, discerning, and responsive to the signs of the time; to renew and focus their life’s orientation and style in the way of Jesus; and to be resolute in achieving what the former Bishop of Tagum, Most Rev. Wilfredo D. Manlapaz, DD prays as he ends his song on the GKK, Paghandum, Paglaraw, Panglantaw, “Ma-Kristohanon untang tanan”.
Cynthia N. Masinaring
Diocese of Tagum
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