Bishop Julito B. Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete has sounded a call for sustained efforts to cater to the needs of the poor, even after the Year of the Poor celebration of the Catholic Church has officially ended.
According to him, the yearlong celebration was just an opportunity to highlight the activities of the Church and the different dioceses and develop the right attitude for the people to carry on and be attentive to and concerned with the poor.
“It does not mean that our concern and activities for the poor have ended. Rather, what realizations have come up during the Year of the Poor (celebration) should be followed through, as what the religious would say, ‘this day and beyond’,” said the prelate.
The bishop stressed the need to strengthen the building blocks for continued and more sustainable activities, citing as an example the participation of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs).
The BECs are being seriously promoted and continued at the different parishes, Bishop Cortes said, adding he hopes they could be a venue to provide help in different aspects to provide for the needs of the poor.
Bishop Cortes had led a concelebrated mass Friday at the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral in this Negros Oriental capital to formally end the Year of the Poor as well as launch the Year of the Family and the Year of the Eucharist.
For the Year of the Eucharist celebration, the Dumaguete prelate underscored there has to be greater appreciation, understanding and awareness of and love for the sacrament of the Eucharist.
“This is especially so in a world that has less faith in the Lord, much less in the Eucharist,” Bishop Cortes pointed out, adding that this is in fact, the main objective of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu City in January 2016.
As to the Year of the Family celebration, it would focus on at least two main concerns of the late Pope John Paul II during the ad limina audience with the bishops wherein he asked them how the families and the young people at the dioceses were doing, Cortes said.
It is crucial to celebrate such “considering the world is facing the challenges that are eroding the living out of the Christian discipleship in the family”, he added. (PNA)
