A chapel now stands in a portion of the SEDC-St. Augustine EcoPilgrimage Park in Barangay Magsico, San Fernando town. | Contributed Photo
SAN FERNANDO, Cebu–An open-air St. Augustine Chapel now stands at the SEDC-St. Augustine EcoPilgrimage Park in Barangay Magsico, San Fernando town in southern Cebu.
Fr. Murphy Sarsonas, parish priest of the San Agustin de Hippo Parish, blessed the chapel recently and officiated the first Mass in the area.
Solid Earth Development Corp. (SEDC) developed the park from a 7-hectare mined-out area in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Cebu that has made the ecopark a model of a pocket forest that every parish in Cebu has been mandated to come up with.
Fr. Sarsonas, chairperson of the Cebu Archdiocese Commission on Environmental Concerns (CACEC), championed the quest to set up pocket forests. He also plans to bring his cause to his new assignment as parish priest in Barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City.
Architect Socorro Borromeo Atega, who was committee consultant in the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress, represented CACEC and the Archdiocese of Cebu during the blessing of the chapel.
Atty. Dennis B. Tenefrancia, SEDC president, and Hiroyuki Sakakibara, senior technical adviser, also attended the blessing together Taiheiyo Cement Philippines, Inc. (TCPI) representatives Zenith Rubi, human resources and administration division manager, Vanessa Bongcawil, community relations section head, and Ted Frances Servano, community relations coordinator.
Others who were present during the activity were with San Fernando town Councilors Gemma Bacalla, Eutiquio Baricuatro, Erico Enad and Teddy Luzano, Magsico barangay captain Mario Sebial and some parishioners and members of the San Agustin de Hippo Environmental Stewards.
Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Palma blessed the SEDC-St. Augustine EcoPilgrimage Park on March 22, 2018 and this has been opened to the public every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. since.
The EcoPilgrimage Park has served as venue for various activities like the Lenten Season Via Crucis (way of the cross), Visita Iglesia (church visits) and Sugat (Resurrection commemoration).
SEDC’s Mitzie Almira Carin said the parish youth has also conducted team building activities in the area while they started to hold Saturday Masses there since May 4. | dcb