By: Villamor C. Visaya Jr.
(Published in its print edition on March 15 – 21, 2025)
A PUBLIC penance is timely and appropriate for Roman Catholic devotees to put the things in order after the Catholic Church in Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya was ransacked by unknown looters recently.
A work of these ungodly people, the unidentified suspects broke into the parish, vandalized the tabernacle, and scattered sacred items.
The people are up in arms and are in unison with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayombong, which condemned the act strongly and called it a direct attack on the faith and labelled it as blasphemy in its statement to parishioners.
It could be recalled in a Diocesan report that church staff discovered the break-in and saw the padlocks broken, church offices ransacked, and the Holy Eucharist desecrated on March 17, 2025.
To ensure the continuity of the religious works, a special Mass and confession will be held outside the parish to bless the new tabernacle.
Among the Catholics, public penance is considered as a communal act of repentance aimed at addressing public sins and it taps the congregation, provided that the bishop authorizes the activity. The church emphasizes collective accountability and the importance of communal support in the process of repentance through this public penance.
The Diocese has this to say to the thieves: “We Catholics believe that the Blessed Sacrament is not just simple bread but the true body of Christ our Lord. That is why what happened is a great blow to us as Catholic believers.”
Time will come that the blasphemy done by the looters will go back against them.
Karma is real.#
