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| Palma |
CEBU CITY, May 7 (PNA) – Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma has decreed that the Sacred Heart Parish Church along D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City, is now known as the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The change was declared through a decree of conferment signed by Palma on April 3, 2012 and offer spiritual benefits for pilgrims who would visit the new shrine.
The parish priest, Fr. Benjamin Sim, SJ, views the declaration as an opportunity to integrate good elements of the Filipino culture and Chinese culture “to enrich both cultures.”
The Filipino-Chinese community, who began celebrating mass in 1952 at a chapel where the Cebu Cathedral Museum stands, built the church in the 1960s.
Their first chapel was dedicated to Our Lady Queen of China.
It was in 1987 that Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal created a territorial parish wherein people living in the vicinity were encouraged to go to mass at the church.
Sim said an archdiocesan shrine is a privileged place of prayer and devotion.
There are indulgencies for pilgrims who visit the place.
Through the decree, rights and privileges are bestowed, including plenary indulgencies to each pilgrim who visits the shrine on special days such as every Friday of the month, novena days and feast day of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, feast day of Christ the King and Corpus Christi.
Fr. Jason Dy, SJ, assistant parish priest, said there are preparations for the community’s participation in the "Gabii sa Kabilin" (Night of Heritage) at the end of the month as well as their parish anniversary.
There would be three additional altars at the shrine dedicated to the first visionaries of Jesus, namely: St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, St. Faustina Kowalska of the Divine Mercy devotion and St. John Eudes and St. Claude Colombiere.
The church offers unique religious services including a place for individual and small group retreats at the Manresa prayer room, an art gallery for artists given a competitive grant and an ancestral veneration altar for Chinese families who wish to light incense to honor their ancestors.
Other unique features are the chandelier inside the main church that were designed by international furniture entrepreneur Kenneth Cobonpue.
The architecture of the church itself is a notable work of art as an example of modern architecture.
Dy said they are yet to get an architectural marker, but the church could be considered the first geometric design church in Cebu City. (PNA)
DCT/FFC/EB/re
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