Stand up for our faith.

This was the message and challenge of Steve Ray and Tim Staples to close to 3,000 students, teachers, religious and the laity who gathered at the Gallera de Pontevedra Saturday to listen to the Pontevedra leg of their Philippine speaking tour.

The speaking engagement was held during the birthday celebration of Gretchen Cojuangco, wife of ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr.

Mrs. Cojuangco treated the participants to a lunch-picnic.

Ray said it was Catholics who wrote the Bible and they should be proud of it. "The Bible is a Catholic book," he also said.

"Don't let other people use your book against you. You are the Bible Christians," Ray, a former Baptist added

. Staples, who was raised a Baptist, revealed his conversion to the Catholic faith happened while he was a student at the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College in the U.S.

He also said he was introduced to Catholicism while he was in the marines, when he met a Catholic who challenged him to study the religion.

"My first thought when I met him was, here's another Catholic I must save. Instead, he led me home to the Catholic church."

Ray and Staples explained the Biblical basis of Catholic concepts, among them heavenly queenship of Mary, the Holy Mass and the rosary.

Their four-hour talk, which included an open forum, was titled, "Blessed to be Catholic: Experiencing the Fullness of the One True Faith.

The two are also scheduled to speak in Manila, Cebu, Boracay and Davao.*

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