In a pastoral letter read throughout the Archdiocese last December 1, the 1st Sunday of Advent, Caceres Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon announced the Archdiocesan Pastoral Thrust for the Jubilee Year 2025, themed "Pilgrims of Hope", and enumerated the goals of the Archdiocese for the said year.
The Archdiocesan Pastoral Thrust for the coming year is "Education towards Communion" ("Magsabot pasiring sa Simbahan na nakikisumaro"). This was inspired by the recently concluded Annual Clergy Retreat, wherein Alarcon and the Caceres Clergy revisited the objectives of the 2nd Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II), and the 1st and 2nd Archdiocesan Pastoral Councils of Caceres (APCC I and II). In all of these Councils, the Church hoped to be a Community of Disciples and a Church of the Poor. In addition, Alarcon mentioned in his letter that these objectives were to be met by creating Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) as discussed in the Congress of the Laity.
However, the Caceres prelate also said that these objectives are still far from completion. Hence, a renewed commitment to achieve these objectives through education and formation in the year 2025. The prelate also hopes that after a year of journeying together, the following will have been met: 1) a deeper understanding of the nature and mission of the Church by the priests, religious and the lay, 2) lay empowerment through the process of being a synodal Church, 3) increased participation of the Vicariates and Commissions of the Archdiocese in strengthening the Church as one community, 4) increased participation of the numerous religious organizations and associations in the life of their respective Parishes and the Archdiocese at large, and 5) to support the current BECs of the Archdiocese and eventually, make a model BEC for the Archdiocese.
Prior to his transfer to Caceres, Alarcon mentioned in an interview that one of his goals as a prelate is to increase lay participation in the Archdiocese.
It was in May 2024 that Pope Francis announced 2025 to be a Jubilee Year, which will formally open on December 29. The Holy Father wrote in his Bull of Indiction, "For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the "door" (cf. Jn 10:7.9) of our salvation, whom the Church is charged to proclaim always, everywhere and to all as "our hope" (1 Tim 1:1)."
-Natalie Hazel P. Quimlat, MD
(photo: Archbishop Alarcon with some priests in Caceres during the retreat when the thrust of Caceres was commonly dircerned.)
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