Calungsod to
stimulate Pinoy youth?

Catholic leaders of the country predict a hike in the evangelization moves of Filipino Catholics based on the recent canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod as the second Filipino saint.

The mere fact that nobody could really pinpoint the origin of St. Pedro, nor his forbears and family members, only makes him a saint every Pinoy can relate with.

In short, he is both a patron saint of Overseas Filipino Workers and the youth. He is an expatriate Pinoy catechist who had gone to the Marianas to help a Jesuit missionary priest. There he suffered martyrdom at the hands of people who attacked the missionary.

St. Calungsod typified the Filipino. He is virtually a homeless waif, as nobody could pinpoint his origins. That’s the reason why several places lay claim to him and his family.

Thus, he is considered a Cebuano, Leyteño, and even Ilonggo. But there is no definitive finding as to his origins, including the correct spelling of his family name.

But the fact that he ended a martyr of the faith shows that Calungsod can be any Filipino, be he a local resident or an expatriate worker.

So that shows that this is the assigned role of the Filipino Christian – an evangelizer.

Because he was neither a priest, nor a member of a religious order, any Christian can easily relate with Calungsod.

Since we are now in the Year of Faith, the heroism of Calungsod should inspire Pinoys, the young especially, to proclaim the message of the love of Christ to everyone on earth.

And that serves as the destiny of Pinoys in this modern world. The fact that there are more than a million Filipinos all over the globe, shows only that each of us can proclaim to the world that Christ came down on earth so save us from the clutches of sin and to give us salvation.

I have already heard a lot of stories of how Filipinos have been touching the hearts of many foreign people with their devotion to the faith and evangelization.

We hope that with the MassKara over, we can now focus our attention on the need for an energization of the faith. And we have a tall order to do.

But we are sure that our basic ecclesial committees will be able to handle the issue of evangelization in our diocese.

***

It was a swift justice. So it seems. The slaying of Raymond Longno, alias Small Boy, by an unidentified assailant at Malaspina Street, Brgy. Villamonte, Sunday.

The police, however, remained tightlipped as to the identity of his killer.

In short, they reportedly do not know who he is and why he/she took after Small Boy who was the principal suspect in the killing of Johnny Chua, 63, owner of East View Hotel along the Circumferential Road in Villamonte.

Of course, the police’s ignorance of whodunit doesn’t mean that they don’t know the details of who did the hit on Longno.

Reports said that Longno had long been notorious in Bacolod as a reported gun-for-hire and was identified by witnesses as the person who they saw walking away from the crime scene of Chua’s killing Saturday. I have heard a lot of rumors about Longno, including who hired him to do away with Chua, and the reason for it. But those are stories that have not been confirmed.

But the fact that deserves to be known by the police is, who had Longno killed? And for what reason? The problem is that the death of the suspected gun-for-hire does not mean that the case of Chua is solved. Was Longno’s death intended to hush up the truth behind the mastermind in Chua’s killing?

***

The MassKara Festival ended yesterday and we must admit that it was a festival that will be remembered as the best that ever happened to Bacolod.

Kudos to the city officials and the members of the MassKara Foundation led by Eli Tajanlangit, Rudy Reveche, and the artists behind them.

In terms of artistry, one can only say that the MassKara Festival did the most from many of Bacolod aspiring and budding artists.

To all of them, our congratulations and our tribute for their creativity. They have made Bacolod the art center of Western Visayas.*

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