Cebu Churches bring Flores de Mayo online

Letters that spell ‘Ave Maria’ stand beside the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary inside the Parroquia de Virgen Remedios in Minglanilla, Cebu as the parish virtually continues their celebration of Flores de Mayo. |Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The mirthful tradition of celebrating Flores de Mayo may take a pause this year due to the risk of the coronavirus disease pandemic, but the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Catholic faith continues among the churches in Cebu.

Catechesis on the doctrines of the Catholic Church and the outreach programs for the children in the church’s communities are among those traditions that may cease, at least physically.

In Danao City’s Santo Tomas de Villanueva Parish, the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) could not dampen the drive of the volunteer catechists in imparting the Church’s teachings to their fellow youth.

While the catechists cannot go to the chapels and the children cannot attend physical catechism activities, STVP’s Commission on Social Communication has brought the teaching of the Church’s doctrines online.

“Nagsige mi og think nga kaguol pod kung this year, mahunong lang tungod sa virus or unsa nga naa may resources, naa may existing nga [documentation] team nga willing mo-edit. Why not utilize them?” says Carmelle Claire Therese Estenzo, chair of the parish’s social communication commission.

(We thought of how sad it would be if the traditions stop this year just because of the virus. Since we have the resources, a documentation team that is willing to edit videos, why not utilize them?)

Starting this Tuesday, May 5, 2020, Estenzo said they will be uploading one catechism session per day in the parish’s Facebook page to at least continue the tradition of bringing the Church’s teaching to the people even just virtually.

Estenzo thought that since the Masses have also gone online since the implementation of social distancing measures, bringing the catechism to social media would be a similar undertaking to keep the people’s faith.

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For the first week of the online catechism, they line-up lessons on basic prayers, the story of creation, the Holy Trinity, the 10 commandments, and the parts of the Mass.

The volunteer catechists would take videos of themselves talking about their assigned topics and the video editors from the parish’s documentation team will edit these to incorporate graphics and visuals.

“With the ECQ, I hope this will not stop us in doing our things. Let us utilize the resources and continue our mission to know Him, to know Gos, and to make God known,” Estenzo added.

In the Parroquia de Virgen Remedios in Guindaruhan, Minglanilla town, southern Cebu, the church has also brought online their Flores de Mayor activities with hopes of uplift the spirits of their residents amid the pandemic.

Despite having empty churches after the Archdiocese of Cebu ordered the suspension of the physical masses, the parish is virtually pushing through with all their Flores de Mayo activities.

Fr. Moenil Lapa, the parish priest of PVR, said he wanted to retain the essence of the Flores de Mayo celebration as a form of recourse to the Blessed Mother.

“Also to our human level, we need to uplift the spirit of everyone as we reminisce our memories of Flores de Mayo,” Fr. Lapa said.

“We are all not ready but what we can do is to keep the spirit alive and to keep that faith and hope mao na nga na-motivate ko to continue this,” he added.

For PVR, all the traditions for the Flores de Mayo, from the songs to the offering of flowers and symbols and the catechesis, are carried out live through Facebook.

To encourage participation in their online catechesis, the parish has set quizzes at the end of each week based on the catechisms. Prizes will be provided for the quiz participants who will be able to give the right answers.

Aside from Minglanilla and Danao, other parishes across the Archdiocese of Cebu have also signified to bring their Flores de Mayo activities online amidst the ongoing ECQ. / dcb