Are we seeing a Catholic renaissance?

First of all, allow me to greet our readers a very Happy Easter and since it’s April 1… Happy Fools Day, as well. I hope you all had a very pleasant and spiritual Holy Week and Easter Sunday celebration. For our special Easter presentation on Straight from the Sky, we bring you “Akong Bugsay” (My Paddle), which was an idea espoused by Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. President Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz in many of his speeches before the Young Minds Academy and the annual Aboitiz Future Leaders Summit to energize our future leaders that embracing the “Bugsay” principle would push our nation forward.

While we already had a previous interview with Sir Bobby Aboitiz on the Bugsay principle a couple of years back, we’re proud to say that Sir Bobby’s “Bugsay” principle has been spreading around to the point that his daughter, Amaya Aboitiz Executive Director of the Dolores Aboitiz’s Children’s Fund, got an idea to turn the Bugsay principle into a children’s book…and that’s exactly what we are bringing to your television sets today. How a business principle of Sir Bobby Aboitiz became a children’s book, “Akong Bugsay.”

“Akong Bugsay” is the story of Andoy, the son of a fisherman who brings his son on his first fishing trip and teaches his son about achieving his life long goal with the simple and lowly “bugsay” or paddle, their only tool for powering and navigating their banca. As the story goes, it gives them more than enough to learn about the mysterious and often chaotic sea, which is no different from the chaos we face in life itself.

With us tonight is Sir Bobby Aboitiz, Ms. Amaya C. Aboitiz, Sol Gonzalvo, Deputy Director for the Youth Kool Adventure Camp, Mr. Mel Yan, Head of RAFI’s Youth Development Committee, Daphne Bacus formerly of the Kool Adventure Camp and Geraldine Monterola of the Bidisliw Foundation and the Children of the Guadix Kiddie Center would will appear in one part of the program reading the book “Akong Bugsay” with storyteller, Ms. VilmaLaranas. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00pm with replays on Wednesday and Saturday and replays in MyTV channel 30 on MWF.

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Happy Easter to one and all, I hope you folks had a good Holy Week. I know that the majority of Cebuano’s are very spiritual, which is why we are so blessed. I was in Bohol for the Holy Week and I could sense that Boholanos are just as spiritual because last Thursday, we heard mass at the Calape Church and it was full of parishioners. After mass, on our way to Tagbilaran, we got stuck in the town of Loon, because their mass just ended and the parishioners walked along the national road, blocking it.

The same thing was true last Good Friday, where we visited the church in Dauis and the San Augustine Church in Panglao.After their parish priest read the Seven Last Words, they held a procession complete with a Santo Entierro. In this Year of Faith and with the excitement of having a new Supreme Pontiff under Pope Francis, there is a resurgence of Catholic pride and we may just be witnessing a renaissance of  Catholicism by Filipino Catholics. But while this is very good for us in the Philippines, we must always be wary and on guard that the evil one will not rest and will continue to harm Christians, just like in ancient times.

While there are no newspapers or local or national TV broadcast for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday, we did get news that the minions of the devil struck even on Good Friday. Yes, it was reported on Facebook and other social networks, including an official report from the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) that about 15 terrorists from the New People’s Army (NPA) led by Marcelino Mandag a.k.a. “Marsing” attacked the Philippine Army’s Mahayahay Patrol Base that was providing security for the “Panaad 2013.”

This incident happened during the “Via Crucis” in Sitio Layaom, Barangay Anticala, Butuan City. The NPAs attacked during the 3rd Station (Jesus Falls for the First Time), killing two civilian security detail and dispersing the 5,000 Catholic faithful, including their Fr. Joesilo Amalia, Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and Rep. Jose Aquino II of the 1st District of Agusan del Norte. Come on and ask yourself, who would attack people doing the Way of the Cross on Good Friday? Only the devil himself and his agents, the NPAs.

According to reports by Rappler, it is the 44th anniversary of the founding of the NPAs and to celebrate their anniversary, they went into a killing rampage, disrupting a purely religious service. To think the NPAs said that they would conduct a unilateral ceasefire during the Holy Week. Clearly, the NPAs have no word of honor, which is why I’m happy that PNoy doesn’t want to talk peace with them. How I wish that his senatorial candidates like Risa Hontiveros and her ilk would condemn this NPA attack.

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