Bishop imposes penitential acts

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  — Forty-four-year-old Father Antonio Magalso was stabbed dead last Tuesday morning when he was about to enter and offer Mass at the newly renovated chapel at sitio Bombo in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Tanjay City, Negros Oriental.

Police said Magalso had just arrived on a motorcycle with a companion when a man, identified as 50-year-old Dionisio Tejamo, a barangay resident who was believed to be mentally challenged, stabbed the priest once on the back. Tejamo fled immediately after the incident but the police arrested and neutralized him by shooting him on his legs after he allegedly resisted arrest.

The unexpected incident caused shock and hurt to the parishioners and the members of the Diocese of Dumaguete, prompting Bishop Julito Cortes to impose certain penitential acts at the chapel, parish and diocesan levels for healing and reparation as the death of Magalso has also affected the entire Church.

With full of painful emotion over the death of Magalso, parish priest of Sta. Cruz in Tanjay City, Cortes explained the penitential or reparation acts are interdict or a canonical recourse in situations where sacred places, consecrated areas and similarly-natured violence occurs.

Cortes said that, after consultations with members of the clergy, the reparation acts were minimized so as not to further cause strain or tension among those already affected by the priest’s death.

For the Sta. Cruz parish, Cortes asked the parishioners for a daily procession at dawn and a penitential procession in the late afternoon, bringing the Cross with them, for nine consecutive days, which started on Thursday, with Fr. Roland Omatang overseeing the penitential activity.

At the San Miguel chapel where Magalso was killed, parishioners were asked to do the nine-day penitential dawn procession, also starting Thursday, followed by a recitation of the Rosary or a Holy Hour, but Cortes said no Mass shall be offered during this time until the 9th day when a dawn procession, a Mass and then the blessing of the newly renovated chapel, destroyed during the height of the storm Quennie.

At the diocesan level, Cortes asked all parishes to offer an act of penitence or a Holy Hour at 6 p.m. on October 2, the first Friday of the month.

The bishop said: “We all need healing, we all have been hurt by the death of Fr. Tony (Magalso) and we must not allow evil to prevail.” He also cautioned against drastic actions, such as revenge and disunity, which he said are the works of the devil.

But this does not mean that “we won’t ask for justice; by all means, we will seek it,” Cortes said, citing Jesus Christ’s last words at the Crucifixion, specifically on forgiveness to those “who do not know what they are doing” and about the promise of paradise to the thief who expressed faith in Him.

Cortes explained these reparation or penitential acts to the church in Sta. Cruz were needed to reconcile the people once again to the Lord after the Church, His Body, was affected and is now suffering from Magalso’s death.

The bishop admitted to The FREEMAN the death of Magalso caused him mixed emotions especially for some priests who have been affected by it and who have expressed fear or were demoralized. He said there is now a need to take a deeper look into the current concerns and issues of the clergy and pinpoint which areas have to be improved on or addressed in relation to the recent attack on a priest.

Magalso, who hailed from Bonawon in Siaton, Negros Oriental, will be laid to rest on October 7, in his hometown. (FREEMAN)