Virgen Dolorosa Parish in Babak celebrates 58 years

The Virgen Dolorosa Parish in Babak, Samal celebrated its 58th fiesta last September 15.

“We may be younger compared to other parishes in the country, but let us thank God for the gift of faith,” Archbishop Romulo Valles said in his homily.

“It is with great joy that we are all gathered here for the fiesta in honor of our beloved mother, our patroness, the Our Lady of Sorrows, Virgen Dolorosa,” he added.

According to the Archbishop, one good lesson from the patroness is on handling life’s sorrows like the Virgen Dolorosa. Valles said the title is based on the story where Mary stood at the foot of the Cross.

“We all have experienced pain and sorrow but imagine the pain and sorrow in the heart of a woman that we recognize as our Mother at the foot of the Cross,” he said.

“One of the lessons of this fiesta that may strengthen our faith is that God, through the Blessed Virgin Mary, is not blind. The Lord is sensitive to our pain because even at the foot of the cross, both Jesus and Mary had so much pain and sorrow in their hearts,” he added.

The archbishop also relayed that the said fiesta follows the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross every September 14.

Along with the feast day, the archbishop also recognized a son of the parish, Fr. Mark Kim Samones, who was recently ordained last August 24, 2019.

Virgen Dolorosa Parish started as a small community — a chapel under the Immaculate Conception Parish of Penaplata. In the year 1960, Rev. Fr. Claude Dumont, Pretre des Missions Etrangeres (PME) a Missionary from Quebec, Canada — an associate priest of the whole Island of Samal, was assigned to take care of the barrio chapel of Babak. He used to visit the place on Saturday afternoon and on the following day celebrated the Holy Mass at the Barrio chapel located at the shoreline (baybay) which is now the Babak Public Market.

In the later part of 1961, Fr. Dumont bought a small parcel of land from the late Angel Nieves Villarica, fronting the Municipal Hall Building, where the parish church and the Holy Cross of Babak were built.