Iloilo still buzzing
with tales of pilgrims

It takes time to shift through testimonies and impressions about an event that was as historic as last week's pilgrimage to Iloilo by thousands of young Catholics.

But, perhaps, the most jarring for most was that 100 young boys (mostly college students and young professionals stood up and offered themselves for the priesthood. So with 125 young girls. They responded to the call to become cloistered nuns.)

In short, for the first time in its history, the Catholic Church saw a pilgrimage of Catholic youngsters making a beeline for Iloilo and ending up at the Molo Catholic Church where Archbishop Angel Lagdameo celebrated the Mass for the tired but happy pilgrims.

So numerous were the pilgrims that the Punta Villa Resort had to close its door with 800 pilgrims as guests. And Molo and Arevalo parishioners fought for the chance to host the others who had nowhere to stay in Iloilo .

The same thing in Bacolod where host families took in the pilgrims.

“In short, there was no shortage of shelters for the pilgrims,” was how Fr. Angel Mojica put it.

What impressed Kristin Uy was that Archbishop Lagdameo walked on foot from the entrance to the Altar Tierra subdivision as the youngers from Cebu , Dumaguete and Negros Occidental paraded their way to the Centennial Hotel.

What was interesting is that none of the pilgrims complained about difficulties and problems encountered in their trek to Iloilo City .

Among the biggest delegations were those from Antipolo Diocese, those of Lipa in Batangas and other parts of Luzon .

The Cebu-Dumaguete pilgrim were joined in the Kabankalan Diocese by neo-catechumenal communities from Bakyas of Bacolod. And they were joined in their popular mission by Kabankalan Bishop P. Buzon who asked that evangelization for small Catholic communities be immediately started in his diocese.

For the first time in his career as a priest, Archbishop Lagdameo witnessed a cadre of more than 2,000 young Catholic called on people house to house to share with them their “experiences with the Lord,” was how Fr. Mojica put it.

The impact of that pilgrimage (the first in the country) was that many other places wanted to host the same event next year. Iloilo City was the choice of most, Bacolod was next, and Batangas reportedly also wanted it.

Aiza, an Italian catechist, saw it as a crowning landmark for years of serving the Lord as such.

Kristin summed up the mindset of the pilgrims, when she was on her way to Bacolod from Kabankalan, Kristine learned that the SEA Jet ferry had cancelled the Iloilo trip of the fast craft.

“Normally you don't dump 240 pilgrims on another fast ferry and get accommodated. But, after praying to the Lord to help us out, I received word that Weesam had decided to take us on for the Iloilo trip,” was how Kristin related to me about problems encountered. And because she had pinned her faith in the Lord, He solved the problem for them.

But that was just one of the tales of the young Catholic pilgrims. There are many moving stories of how the Lord touched their lives and changed their outlook.*

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