by KATHLYN DELA CRUZ
DESPITE living in a predominantly Muslim region, Filipinos in the Middle East were able to observe Lent, albeit online.
The Catholic Bishops’Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) launched last April 1 visitaiglesia.net, a site that offers a “virtual experience of celebrating Lent, the Holy Week and Easter at the comfort of one’s room.”
“Our target audience are the disabled and Filipinos abroad,” CBCP Media office director Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III said.
Quitorio said while the most number of visitors were from the Philippines, the Middle East posted a higher percentage of online visitors relative to its Filipino population. There are over 600,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Arab region according to the 2009 figures of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
“Because in the Middle East, there are no churches, no alternative,” he added. Unlike Filipinos who visit the site out of curiosity, he said OFWs in places like the Middle East do it out of need.
An OFW from the Middle East said Visita Iglesia Online gave her the chance to hear pasyon, a verse narrative on the life and sufferings of Christ, for the first time again in 14 years.
There were also visitors from the United States and Europe. As of yesterday, Visita Iglesia Online has reached a total number of 135,608 registered visitors. Last year, there were only the 47,473 visitors, almost triple the number.
Quitorio added he has been receiving emails from OFWs all over the world, saying they were happy with the CBCP project. But he has heard also from Filipinos here, like the email of a man confined in a hospital in Manila saying he was glad to hear the pasyon online.
The pasyon is a newly added page on the site featuring the audio clips of all 21 chapters.
The Visita Iglesia site also offers a tour of 14 historical churches in the country to correspond with the 14 Stations of the Cross.
Slideshow presentations showing the façade and interiors of the churches are presented along with the prayers for each station. As one looks at the pictures, the viewer can play the audio clip of the prayers.
The featured churches are the Manila Cathedral and San Agustin Church in Intramuro; Quiapo Church and Malate Church in Manila, Saint Ildefonsus Archbishop of Toledo Parish and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Bulacan; Our Lady of Purification Parish and Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Pangasinan; and Sta. Catalina de Alejandria Parish in Pampanga, among others.
Homilies from priests can also be found on the site. Most of these are from homilies published in CBCP’s fortnightly newspaper, the CBCP Monitor. The other pages are devoted to catechesis on the Holy Week, Easter, and Lent, and a section on the Seven Last Words, with videos of priests giving their own reflections.
CBCP plans to continue updating the site even after Holy Week.
“The Visita Iglesia will have to be in a wider sense — go to a church, go back to our cultural heritage. Also, we are receiving feedback, especially from OFWs, asking if we can also feature churches (that conduct masses) with healing,” he said.
(The author is a student of the University of the Philippines interning at VERA Files.)