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The new Prelature has adopted and maintained the existing pastoral programs and structure of the Archdiocese of Caceres. In the beginning, the new Prelature relied entirely on the Archdiocese of Caceres for pastoral assistance. The pastoral program in the new Prelature revolved around Worship, Education, Service, Temporalities and Youth (WESTY). Each component has a commission or office to plan the activities and their implementation. Less than a year after the canonical erection of the Prelature, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) convened the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) in 1991. The purpose of PCP II was to bring renewal in the Philippine Church. This “new Pentecost” in the Philippine Church has engendered a new vitality and hope in the Prelature of Libmanan. It was a beautiful opportunity for the clergy of the Prelature to rekindle the consciousness of the faithful about the current situation of the Church, the meaning of their Christian identity and mission, and the need for total conversion.
Following the preliminary stage of PCP II, the Prelature conducted consultations and conferences in the parishes. The results of these consultations would partly contribute to unfold the current situation of the Philippine Church. However, the consultations in the parishes became providential and beneficial to the whole Prelature because the clergy and the faithful realized that the situation and its needs were distinct from those of the Archdiocese of Caceres. Thus, the new Prelature decided to take her own path of shepherding God’s people.
First Pastoral Assembly in the Prelature of Libmanan (PAPL I) – A Living Faith for a Renewed Church
To realize the new impetus and the vibrant calling of PCP II in setting the pastoral direction of the local Church of Libmanan, the Most Rev. Prospero N. Arellano, D.D. convened the First Pastoral Assembly of the Prelature of Libmanan (PAPL I) on September 6-10, 1992 with the theme: “A Living Faith for the Renewed Church.” The participants of the PAPL I were the Bishop, twenty-one priests of the Prelature of Libmanan, two religious priests, and twenty-five lay leaders. PAPL I highlighted three main agenda namely, the evaluation of the present programs and structures in the Prelature, the formulation of the vision-mission statement, and the setting up of priority programs and plans for the initial post-assembly activities. Evaluation of the Current Pastoral Programs and Structures The evaluation of the existing pastoral programs and activities in the Prelature is an integral part in the formulation of the vision-mission statement of the Prelature of Libmanan. The basis of the evaluation is centered on the crisis and kairos of the parish pastoral activities as to kerygma, koinonia, liturgia, diakonia, and martyria. For the kerygma, the crisis was due to the lack of evangelizers due to priest-centeredness, however, the kairos revealed that there was an on-going effort to train catechists and lay leaders in the parishes. For the koinonia, the crisis was affected by the social and political conditions of the country that brought division among the people, and threats to peace and order. The kairos was the empowerment of the lay movements, organizations, and pastoral councils. For the liturgia, the crisis was caused by lack of pre-sacramental catechesis that resulted in the lukewarm participation in the liturgical activities, lack of internalization, and superstitious beliefs. The kairos was the intensification of formations for the various liturgical ministries and celebration of Holy Mass in the villages. For the diakonia, the crisis was due to the lack of volunteers and funds for the social apostolate and other Church related services due to limited and non-integral pastoral programs. The kairos was the support for social services for the people through the help and assistance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the other sectors of society. For the martyria, the crisis was due to the prejudice against other religious sects. The kairos was the continuous effort for ecumenical dialogue. Besides the crises and kairos in the parish life, the Prelature was confronted with despicable poverty that affronted the Christian community. The local Church of Libmanan found difficult to reconcile poverty with the pastoral programs that did not seem to address the people’s real situation. As a result, some pastoral strategies were deemed irrelevant because they did not cater to the needs of the community. The over-all assessment was to redirect the whole pastoral program by formulating the vision-mission based on the social, cultural, political, economic and spiritual aspects of the people in the Prelature of Libmanan. |
