VISITA IGLESIA 2022: New and Familiar Churches Around Quezon City

 We just completed our Visita Iglesia this year.  We weren't able to do this in the past two years due to the quarantine restrictions imposed by the government.  Compared to the last time we observed this tradition, the mood in most churches was more subdued, and people were seriously praying their rosaries and stations of the cross.

We decided to go to churches in Quezon City at sunset when the Lord's Supper Mass was about to begin.  The mass at the first church we visited had already started.  Along Cordillera St., the Our Lady of Fatima Parish is near our house.  

From this church, we went to Mayon Street.  We visited the Parish of Sta Teresita, which houses a Capuchin monastery.  The church has been on the land donated by the Araneta family since before the last world war.  I couldn't get a good angle of the exterior, but I managed to take a picture of the altar from where we were seated.  

We went a few blocks from the place and reached the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. I found out that the original shrine was in Intramuros until it got destroyed during the Second World War.  When missionaries found the image, they brought it to the Sta Teresita Church we earlier visited.  The icon stayed there until the Capuchins had the new shrine built and completed in 1977.

 Following the customs of the Catholic Church, the statues and images inside the church were draped in purple cloth.

 

The next church we visited was the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine along Broadway St. in New Manila.  The shrine is the center of devotion for the Brown Scapular.  As expected, the traffic was heavy in the church's vicinity, so we decided to walk the few meters going to the church.  

We visited the St. Joseph Convent of Perpetual Adoration for our fifth church.  The place is in the middle of Hemady St, a road dotted by old and modern mansions. The convent is home to the Pink Sisters, an order of cloistered nuns who spend their day praying.  You can even ask them to pray for your special intentions.  The exterior was not well lit, so sorry for the poor quality of the photo.

Our first choice for our sixth stop was Christ the King Seminary, but the traffic going inside was heavy. We decided to go to Sto. Domingo Church, instead.  While our goal was to visit churches we hadn't visited in our previous Visita Iglesia, we decided on the church since it was more accessible from where we were.

We were surprised that there were fewer people this year visiting the church.  Perhaps the devotees visited earlier in the afternoon and left after the mass.  There were still groups praying at the stations of the Cross when we arrived.

We ended this year's Visita Iglesia at our parish church, the Holy Trinity Parish Church in Manila, as part of the tradition.  This church is very memorable to me.  I went to hear mass every Sunday in this church during my elementary school days.  It went through a lot of renovation over the years, but the basic structure is still there.  Beside the church is the school where I finished elementary, and then I transferred to a different school.  

After saying our prayers, we headed home and plan to do this again next year with God's grace. Hopefully, we can visit churches we haven't gone to or even those farther from our location.

Visita Iglesia 2019: Visit to Seven Churches in Manila and Quezon City

Last Maundy Thursday, we joined thousands of Catholic Filipinos to perform the Visita Iglesia, a tradition observed on this particular day of Lent.  Pilgrims visit seven churches to pray the Stations of the Cross and meditate on the suffering and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ.

UST Parish Church

Traditionally, one walks from church to church, but we used our car, and so did the other devotees.  This created huge traffic jams on the roads leading to the churches, and parking spaces became battlegrounds.  Mercifully, volunteers managed the traffic inside the church grounds.

We first stopped at Sto. Domingo Church, which is near our place and is the shrine of Our Lady of Naval.  We prayed our first two Stations of the Cross and then lighted candles for our special intentions.

Our next stop was the UST Parish church along España Boulevard.  After praying the next two Stations of the Cross, we exited the church and found a group of people distributing copies of the Way of the Cross booklets.

At the back part of the booklet, the group explained that they aim to stop the spread of communism and socialism, which destroy the basic beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.

We were supposed to make Quiapo Church our next stop, but it appeared most of Manila's Catholic population converged there.  We decided to go straight to Manila Cathedral instead.  However, we made a wrong turn and ended up heading towards Binondo Church.  We decided to make it our next stop. It was still not too crowded inside, so we were able to do our prayers in peace.

Binondo Church

A popular deli store offered water and snacks outside the church. It's an old tradition practiced on Maundy Thursday called pa-caridad or charity.  It's almost forgotten, and very few devotees practice it now.

We finally found our way to Manila Cathedral, but the traffic jam was terrible, that we had to walk to the entrance.  People had to fall in line to get inside because of security checks.  The long line due to the high volume of people almost deterred us from going in, but it moved fast, so we decided to go inside.

The cathedral teemed with people inside, but not everyone was praying, and several people were taking selfies and groupies!  Okay, some people were actually doing the Stations of the Cross, and their prayers mingled with discussions of other groups on what part of the cathedral they would take their next selfies and groupies in.

The Manila Cathedral

From the cathedral, we took another trip to the Shrine of Saint Michael and the Archangels, or the San Miguel Church.  We could not drive to the church because of the tight security since its neighbor happens to be the President of the Philippines.  So we had to walk, and I immediately noticed the number of food stalls near the church.  It appeared that none of the well-to-do residents of the area made a pa-caridad.

San Miguel Church

The stations were outside, in the courtyard, and as in other churches we've already visited, many people were busy taking their selfies and groupies.  Inside the church, the priests and their assistants were already preparing for the Mass of the Lord's Supper.  Also, the parish has a museum dedicated to the Blessed Mother and the angels.

We ended our Visita Iglesia this year at the two churches in Bustillos: the Shrine of Saint Anthony and Our Lady of Loreto Parish Church.  We did not get inside both churches because the Lord's Supper Mass has already started in both of them. However, like in San Miguel, both churches placed stations of the cross on their grounds.

We finished all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross and the seven churches needed to complete the Visita Iglesia.  By the way, I remember that a lay minister once told me that the Visita Iglesia should be done when the Eucharist has been removed from the main altar following the Maundy Thursday mass.  This is a response to what Christ said when He found the apostles sleeping in the Garden that they could not stay with Him for even just one hour.

Also, I hope next year, the pilgrims will be more aware that the Visita Iglesia is not a road trip, and they should be more considerate of the others who were doing their prayers.  They should also learn to be more caring about their surroundings and not just throw their trash anywhere.