Manila church creates Covid memorial wall for victims
Move follows call by Manila prelate for Catholic priests to remember and pray for nearly 20,000 virus victims
People write the names of loved ones on a newly created memorial wall outside Quiapo Church in Manila. (Photo courtesy of Father Douglas Badong via Radio Veritas)
A church in the Philippine capital of Manila is creating a memorial wall where parishioners can write the names of loved ones and friends who have died from Covid-19.
Quiapo Church, home to the shrine of the revered Black Nazarene image of Jesus, announced on May 10 that its priests will pray for all those whose names are written on the wall.
The memorial wall outside Quiapo Church.PHOTO BY FR. BADONG VIA RADIO VERITAS
Quiapo Church Parochial Vicar Father Douglas Badong said the memorial wall placed outside the church allows people to write the names of their departed loved ones.
“We have a memorial wall where people can write the names of those who died during the pandemic,” CBCP News quoted Badong’s interview over Radio Veritas, Thursday, May 6.
On May 8, Archdiocese of Manila Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo will lead Manila’s clergy in a day of prayer and remembrance for those who have lost their lives to coronavirus.
The archdiocese will mark the day with the “Mass for the Dead” at the Manila Cathedral at 9 a.m.
Atty. Joey Lina
Even before the pandemic struck, it certainly was appalling how many Filipinos go hungry every day, how those living in extreme poverty lacked the means not only to feed themselves but also how to afford the other basic necessities in life.
With the pandemic raging, hunger incidence became record high. Severe hunger was at 8.7 percent last September when nine out of every hundred Filipinos have gone hungry “often or always” in the previous three months, according to a bleak report of the Social Weather Stations.
The SWS survey showed the incidence of severe hunger surged beyond the previous peak of six percent recorded in March 2001. It also revealed that 30.7 percent, or one in every three Filipinos, experienced hunger at least once in three months, beating the previous high of 23.8 percent reported in March 2012.
Published April 28, 2021, 7:38 PM
The current travel restriction in National Capital Region-Plus (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal) has severely affected those who belong to the informal sector, including a 50-year-old craftsman from Baras in Rizal Province.
Alvaro Dichoso braves the summer heat every Sunday to sell his resin handicrafts on a sidewalk in Antipolo City (Photo by Nel Andrade)
Alvaro Dichoso has been a maker and vendor of religious figurines for 12 years now, a craft which he learned from his father and has been his bread and butter. But with the restricted movements of the public, Dichoso is finding a hard time to sell his images of the Nazareno, Santo Niño, Virgin of Peṅafrancia, Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, among others.