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| Participants from Leyte line up prior to the start of the long walk. |
"The harvest is great but the laborers are few."
Around 280 pilgrims from different parts of the country attended this year’s pilgrimage. Participants from Manila, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Cagayan, Surigao, Gensan, Marbel, Davao, Zamboanga converge in one place for the yearly event.
Just as in the past pilgrimages, this year’s pilgrimage was started with a Solemn High Mass offered by Rev. Fr. Conraad Daniels at Rizal Park in Tagbilaran City around 6am. Four priests attended the pilgrimage:
Fr. Albert Ghela- pilgrimage chaplain
Fr. Conraad Daniels- vocations director, St. Bernard Novitiate
Fr. Aurelito Cacho
Fr. Francois Chazal
EVENING ACTIVITIES
First Night- Catechism Quiz Bowl
This was a new activity in the history of the annual pilgrimage. Each Mass center sent in three members to compose a team. They worked together to answer questions in different levels (Easy, Moderate and Difficult), each level was composed of 5 randomly picked questions which were read by the priests who also served as moderators. In between the levels, trivia questions were being raised for the audience to answer. The sisters and aspirants from the House of Bethany, under the tutelage of Sis. Maria Conception, gave an instrumental and song presentation after the quiz bowl.
Second Night- Folk Song Festival
A total of 10 groups joined the contest. The brothers and aspirants from St. Bernard Novitiate together with Fr. Daniels gave a special presentation that night which was about the (serious and sometimes amusing) life in the religious community. The evening was also highlighted by Gensan’s contest piece which included the special participation of Mathilde. She and Sylvia are volunteers of ACIM-Asia who came all the way from France. She readily volunteered to act as a graceful Filipina being serenaded by young men, a custom that’s fast declining in this modern society.
Third Night- Marian Song Festival
This was a night of heavenly Marian songs. All groups presented their best Marian pieces. It was highlighted by Surigao’s two staunch performers. They were both in their prime ages already but they captured the audience with their longest Marian piece. The audience even joined them in singing.
By far, this year’s pilgrimage has the most number of contestants and with the most number of trophies and certificates given out. The three evening activities were ended with a short conference about vocations, which is the main theme of the pilgrimage. Frs. Daniels, Chazal and Cacho were the speakers, respectively. Fr. Daniels opened his conference with a question, “What does God want of you?” which he would usually ask to young boys in summer camps. And their answer would be, “Huh?!” According to him, this speaks for us all in which we find it hard to answer such basic question. The other two priests talked about the importance of vocations and the need for more vocations especially in this time of great trial in the Church.
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