Tags: Religion, Spiritual Wellness
By Alexander Villafania
DAGUPAN CITY, PANGASINAN – Many Filipinos are already preparing for a nearly week-long hiatus for the Holy Week (“Semana Santa” in both Spanish and Filipino). But the Internet makes it a tad more difficult to take people away from their PCs and do some of the traditional methods of reflecting over their lives. So, if the Church can’t get people off their PCs, the Church might as well go to them. Enter the online Holy Week.
Two institutions have started their own high-tech Lenten celebrations. The first is the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), which started an online Visita Iglesia (Church visit) a few years back. But starting last year, they “upgraded” the Visita Iglesia site by adding audio recordings of all the 14 stations of the Cross. They’ve also added new photos of Churches, such as the Our Lady of Perpetrual Shrine, Nuestra Señora de Remedios, Sto Niño de Tondo Church and San Lorenzo Ruiz Church, among others.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Jesuits also has a similar Holy Week retreat called “God in the Dungeons” which started a few years ago. They’ve also upgraded their online retreat preparation module with an interactive Flash video. The actual retreat itself will begin on Holy Thursday.
Father Johnny Go, S.J., who conducted the first online retreat in 2008, described the Philippine Jesuits’ online retreat as “Meeting Places” since they happen over three days of the Lent: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday. But even with a high tech retreat that can reach many Filipinos who are connected to the Internet it is still no substitute to the real face-to-face retreat.
If you’re also interested to know how the Holy Week is celebrated in other Catholic countries, visit Semana Santa Online.
Beauty and Hygiene Child Health and Growth Clothing Consumer Electronics Consumer Goods and Concerns Family Family Health Concerns Fashion Footwear Furniture Games and Hobbies Health issues Home Appliances Household Care and Cleanliness Household Products Internet Mobile Lifestyle Parenting Personal Finance Pets Physical Wellness Religion Spa and Massage Special Occasions Spiritual Wellness Technology Industry Toys
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
