CBCP offers online Visita Iglesia

MANILA, Philippines - The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has relaunched the Visita Iglesia online with additional features, offering Lenten retreats for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and those who are too sick to move about.

The theme for this year’s Visita Iglesia is derived from the message for Lent 2012 of Pope Benedict XVI: “Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works.”

CBCP media office director Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III said everybody is invited to have a Lenten retreat via the website.

At www.visitaiglesia.net, the visitor can browse, watch videos and read the Pasyon, the Seven Last Words, and homilies related to Lent.

To better guide Catholics in the 40 days of Lent, they would be offering catechesis and reflections online beginning Sunday, Feb. 26.

The retreat masters include CBCP secretary-general Monsignor Joselito Asis, assistant secretary-general Fr. Marvin Mejia, Monsignor Quitorio and CBCP-Committee on Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) executive secretary Fr. Amado Picardal.

They will also have a podcast on audio Lenten reflections. Another feature is Lenten blogs that are discussions taken from the blogs of bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.

They would also be featuring the history, architectural design and the pastoral significance of old churches, including shrines, heritage churches and pilgrimage sites. They have already lined up churches in Rizal, Laguna, Cebu and Bohol.

Quitorio hopes that this endeavor would help boost local tourism. “We are hoping that this would bring more tourists and pilgrims,” he said.