SU Divinity School, Dumaguete Ecumenical Community open nationwide prayer week for Christian Unity
Through a meaningful virtual worship service, the Silliman University Divinity School (SUDS) and the Dumaguete Ecumenical Community led the opening rite for the nationwide celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity held January 17, 2022 via Zoom and Facebook Live.
This annual event held across the globe is geared towards prayer and action for the visible unity of the Church.
Leading the opening liturgy were Rev. Dr. Jeaneth Harris-Faller, SUDS Dean and an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) along with Rt. Rev. Allan C. Caparro of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) – Diocese of Negros Oriental & Siquijor and Rev. Fr. Ben Eric C. Lozada from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete who also serves as a formator at the St. Joseph Seminary College.
The said liturgical celebration featured the original musical works of former acting SUDS dean and professor in Christian Education, Dr. Elena Maquiso from her 1974 “Alawiton sa Pagtoo” produced for the Cebuano-speaking congregations in the UCCP, supported by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the new tunes from Asst. Prof. Jean Cuanan-Nalam, current mentor (on-leave for doctoral studies) in church music at SUDS.
Rev. Magnolia Nova V. Mendoza, current mentor in Liturgy and Church Music, also served as cantor along with spiritual care mentor, Rev. Josuah M. De Rosas, and Klein F. Emperado, project staff for the SUDS centennial celebration.
DM Rolan Mendoza, a graduate of the liturgy and music program, also assisted in the editing of the music and videos along with a team of young people from UCCP Central Mindanao Area Conference and from IFI Diocese of Negros Oriental and Siquijor namely: Allan Bronzal and Angelie Joy Chioco and Kim G. Sarong, Ph.D.
Aside from Dumaguete, this year’s nationwide celebration organized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines will also be hosted by the ecumenical fellowships of Manila, Baguio, Palawan, Cotabato, and Davao.
In retrospect, SUDS has been actively involved in the ecumenical movement in Dumaguete since the late 1980s.
Today, the Dumaguete Ecumenical Community is composed of churches and church organizations: the UCCP, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete and the IFI, SUDSl, St. Joseph Seminary College, and the Kabatan-onang Ekyumenikal sa Isla Negros ug Siquijor, an ecumenical youth fellowship composed of the Youth of the IFI and Christian Youth Fellowship leaders (Negros District Conference, North Negros Conference, and Central Negros Associate Conference) and the SUDS Student Assembly along with ecumenical partner organizations from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumaguete, the Focolare Movement and Commission on Youth.
The recent show of united prayer and action was made manifest on the recent opposition of the churches and church-related organizations, including SU on the issue of the 174-hectare reclamation project authored by the Dumaguete City Government, and with the individual churches’ response for the communities ravaged by Typhoon Odette in the northern part of Negros Oriental.
(Report by Klein Fausto Emperado, SUDS Centennial 2021 Special Project Staff)
