In an attempt to provide a venue for women and girls seeking counseling and other forms of attention and help, the Diocese of Dumaguete has created its Kahupayan Pastoral Care and Counseling Center.
The Kahupayan Center, similarly patterned after the one in Cebu City, is a brainchild of Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes, said Atty. Florence Tangente, who has been tasked to head the facility, along with Fr. Ramonito Torres and initially with a core group of volunteers.
The center envisions “a society incarnating God’s will for women to live life to the fullest” while its mission or aim is “to create a space for trust and respect for women to be aware of, to share, and to continue to encounter Jesus’ love and faithfulness”, Tangente said on Thursday.
Tangente further explained the center will be a venue not just for abused women and girls, but also for those who are seeking counseling and even simply “someone to talk to”.
Some distressed women, according to Fr. Torres, want more than just receiving the sacrament of confession.
According to him, there is limited time at the confessional box, and many women need extra time to unload the burdens they are carrying.
Pastoral and trauma counseling and referral of cases to the proper government agencies and non-government organizations/groups are among the services to be initially rendered for those coming to the center, explained Tangente.
The Kahupayan Center in Cebu, which Bishop Cortes established when he was still auxiliary bishop there, is somewhat different in that it is a holding center and provides accommodation for its clients, but Tangente said that would perhaps be replicated in the future.
For now, the center in Dumaguete would only be operating on certain hours throughout the week.
To start with, the center will have 25 volunteers, to include three religious and 23 lay people who are asked to allocate a few hours each day to attend to the needs of the clients as well as run the operations of the center.
Formation, training and seminars will be provided for the volunteers, too, said Tangente, to help them grow in their faith and improve their spirituality.
Furthermore, the center will be actively engaged in advocacies for the protection, rights and dignity of women, such as fighting violence against women and children, supporting care for the elderly, holding medical missions and raising awareness and consciousness of concerns and issues affecting the community.
Atty. Tangente on Thursday disclosed that the blessing and inauguration of the center, located inside the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria compound in Dumaguete, is scheduled on Feb. 14 at 3 in the afternoon. (JFP)
