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Manila, Philippines, Jan 5, 2017 / 04:27 pm (CNA).- For over four centuries, a historical and iconic miraculous statue of Jesus Christ carrying his Cross has become an emblem of passion, struggle and faith for Filipino Catholics.

The life-size statue of Jesus is enshrined in the famous minor basilica popularly known as the Quiapo Church, located in the Archdiocese of Manila. The statue has survived the blazing fires that destroyed the church twice, two earthquakes, the floods of numerous typhoons and bombings during World War II.

The church which hosts the statue never sleeps. It welcomes devotees early in the morning till late evening. During the day, it holds continuous Masses and healing services. During the night, the church shelters poor homeless people. In the early morning, the church is cleaned and again reaches out to the pilgrims and devotees.

Every year on Jan. 9, the annual feast day, millions of devotees gather to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene. They take part in the spectacular religious procession known locally as the “Traslacion,” during which devotees carry a replica of the statue across Manila.

Up to 18 million participants are expected to take part in this year's procession and the festivities that surround it.

Pope Innocent X specially recognized the Philippines’ strong devotion to the Black Nazarene of Manila in 1650.

Msgr. Jose Clemente Ignacio, the rector of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, said that some people wait in line for seven hours without complaint, simply to touch the image.

“They say Filipinos are resilient, but where is this resiliency coming from? It’s the practice of our faith,” he told CNA.

Msgr. Ignacio spoke more about the Black Nazarene and its related devotions. The text of the interview is below, edited for clarity and brevity.

CNA:  Could you describe Quiapo Church for us?

Msgr Ignacio: The church is one of the most popular churches in the country as it is home to the miraculous Black Nazarene, a much-venerated statue of Jesus Christ which many people believe has miraculous attributes.

St. John Paul II recognized the church as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene because of its role in strengthening a deep popular devotion to Jesus Christ and because of its cultural contribution to the religiosity of the Filipino people.

CNA: What is the historical background of the Black Nazarene statue of Quiapo?

Msgr. Ignacio:  A first group of Augustinian Recollect missionaries landed in Manila in 1606 from Mexico. They brought with them a dark image of Jesus Christ kneeling on one knee and carrying a large wooden cross. The image was first enshrined in St. John the Baptist Church at Luneta in 1606 and after two years was moved to a bigger church nearby. Over a century and a half later, in 1767, the image was transferred to Quiapo Church whose patron is also St. John the Baptist.

In 2006, we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the image of Black Nazarene in Manila.

CNA:  Explain to us the devotion to the Black Nazarene at Quiapo.

Msgr. Ignacio: In the words of Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, “To understand the devotee you have to be a devotee. Only a devotee could best understand a devotee.”

People have sensed the spiritual wealth in Quiapo Church and there is a huge attendance for Mass every day and especially on Friday.

However, it’s the feast day that gathers together millions of devotees who walk in the procession, called the “Traslacion” of the Black Nazarene. Here in Quiapo Church you can witness many stories of the faith of the people, those who are patiently lining up for seven hours without any complaints. They just want to pray and touch the image of Black Nazarene. There are huge queues for confessions.

They say Filipinos are resilient, but where is this resiliency coming from? It’s the practice of our faith.  

CNA: Tell us more about the procession called “Traslacion” of the Black Nazarene.

Msgr. Ignacio: “Traslacion” means the transfer of the Image of Black Nazarene. In a way it is imitating the Calvary experience: the sacrifice and suffering that our Lord endured for our salvation like when Jesus was walking barefoot, carrying the cross to Mount Calvary.

The devotees also want to give back to God by participating in the suffering of our Lord and entering into the Paschal mystery of Christ.

It is also commemorating the transfer of the image from Lunetta to Quiapo, when we first received the statue in 1868. Since then, because of the many answered prayers, people have been celebrating the feast on January 9.

The barefoot procession of an almost 4.3-mile journey starts from the Quirino Grandstand at Luneta and snakes its way towards the narrow streets. Passing through the city’s winding roads, after 19 hours of spiritual euphoria, the procession eventually reaches Quiapo at the Basilica Minore de Nazareno. The devotees flood by to touch the image and throw cloths to touch the image, before receiving the cloths back.  

Our culture is a culture of touch and, significantly, in a way we want to touch heaven.
 
CNA: How do you explain this popular devotion and its importance to bring people to faith?

Msgr. Ignacio: Maybe in the past in the Western world the contemplatives' experience of undergoing retreats in monasteries, retreat houses etc. was a contemplative way of entering into the mystery of Christ.

But there was also another, lay-focused way of having retreats by making pilgrimages. St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony, St Ignatius of Loyola--they also undertook pilgrimages which involved suffering and bodily penance in the process of entering into the Paschal mystery of Christ.

The devotion in Quiapo is somewhat similar to a pilgrimage experience and every year they come and somehow something changes in the people.

Popular religiosity is not being encouraged because there are elements that need purification... but we cannot dismiss this, because through popular piety our faith has been introduced in our home and in our families. We have been introduced to the prayers, the Rosary, the statues of the saints, the Way of the Cross.

Somehow it has a value and I guess the people here know that there is a very deep gold mine of the spiritual fruits that they can experience in Quiapo Church.

Somehow some theologians have not fully grasped this wealth that is these popular religious devotions. The Second Vatican Council encourages them and does not dismiss them. Pope Francis is asking us to support and strengthen, understand and find meaning in popular piety.

CNA: Has the devotion increased, and what is the impact of this devotion in living the Christian life in the community?

Msgr. Ignacio: The devotion has definitely increased. On weekdays there are about 10 Masses celebrated, there are also healing services. We expected only a 10 to 15 percent increase (in attendance) this year. But we were astonished that there was a 30 percent increase and lot of dioceses are asking for crucifixes from Quiapo Church.

In 2014, (attendance) was estimated at 4 million and the following year they say it is 5 million in the procession alone. But this does not include the crowd in the evening and it also does not include the crowd that goes into the Quiapo Church every hour. The local estimates say this is around 12 million.

Somehow the devotion is growing. You can see the effect of the devotion is to bring out more compassion. Even in just the “Translacion” experience (volunteers) are helping out with the medical team, water, food, so there is lot of compassion.  

CNA: How is Quiapo Church helping disaster victims and fostering devotion elsewhere in the Philippines?

People are giving. Even when disaster strikes there is a second collection. But where the disaster impact is big we help in rehabilitation measures.

In Bohol (a province ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan in 2014) we have finished 72 houses and given them to different families. We joined relief programs in other dioceses and granted scholarships and ran a livelihood program through our Black Nazarene Foundation, which is the distribution arm of the Quiapo Parish.
 
We are giving one crucifix to every church so that devotees are nourished in their devotion to the Black Nazarene. Our pilgrim image too keeps visiting parishes and dioceses.  
 

This article was originally published on CNA May 27, 2015.

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Minneapolis, Minn., Jan 5, 2017 / 04:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two Minnesota parents are facing charges of child neglect after they prayed over their severely ill son rather than seeking medical attention just prior to the child’s death. 

A criminal complaint says the couple, Sarah Johnson, 38, and Timothy Johnson, 39, found their son Seth, 7, unresponsive and covered in vomit one morning in March 2015. 

The parents told authorities they had decided to pray over Seth and treat him with vitamins and honey the night before his death rather than call 911 because they had “issues with doctors.”

The Johnsons said in social media postings that have since been deleted that they relied on their strong faith to overcome their son’s death, according to local news reports. 

But should the Johnson’s attempt to use a religious freedom defense in court, it almost certainly will fail, a legal counselor told CNA. 

“No religious freedom statute or law has ever been successfully used in that way,” said Kellie Fiedorek, who serves as legal counsel for the group Alliance Defending Freedom. 

“First of all, both child abuse and domestic abuse are both crimes, and those who engage in that kind of behavior will be prosecuted,” Fiedorek said. 

“And secondly, the government has a well-documented compelling interest in ensuring that children are safe and protected...so that will always supersede any religious teaching or religious belief or any kind of belief that would try to allow that kind of abuse or contact to happen,” she added. 

Religious freedom jurisprudence considers the government's “compelling interest” as one of several factors in determining if the right to religious liberty is being exercised properly or abused.

Autopsy reports state that the child was suffering from numerous medical ailments including open sores and bruises all over his body. According to court documents, in the weeks leading up to his death, Seth had stopped sleeping, took hours to eat meals, and would occasionally shake and throw himself down the stairs. His cause of death was listed as pancreatitis and possible sepsis.

Seth first joined the family as a foster child at the age of 3, and was adopted by the Johnson’s when he was 4. Prior medical records showed that Seth was a healthy and “thriving” child with no pre-existing conditions. 

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said despite a yearlong investigation, Seth’s illness and death could not be linked to the actions or inactions of the Johnsons. 

Therefore, the highest possible charge authorities were able to bring against the Johnsons was one charge each of child neglect resulting in substantive bodily harm, which would result in a gross misdemeanor. 
 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Mother's Day came early this year at the Vatican.

A number of feast days over the Advent and Christmas seasons gave Pope Francis a fresh opportunity to pay homage to the world's mothers and insist further on how and why he wants the entire church to become more maternal.

But who is this archetypal mother figure the pope upholds? Pope Francis pointed to a few of his favorite biblical heroines, praising the seemingly contradictory qualities of each:

Like Mary, she is silently compliant to God's will; like Rachel, she weeps inconsolably, drawing God's and the world's attention to a reality people would rather ignore; and like the persistent widow, she doesn't let being a nobody stop her from speaking up against injustice, making a fuss and pestering the one who does have power to make things right.

So how and why does the church need to be this loving, humble, hard-as-nails champion? Let's count the ways:

-- A cold, careless, selfish world thirsts for a tender warm home.

Speaking on the feast of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1, Pope Francis said it's the maternal instinct to hold, hope and help that make up the "strongest antidote" to the selfishness, indifference and intolerance in the world today.

He went on to say that God chose to be "knit" inside and born of a woman, so that he could experience a mother's tenderness, hear the cries of and joys of their people, and make everyone his brother and sister in the faith who belong to a family.

-- When times get tough, who are you going to call? Everyone, especially the lost, forgotten and marginalized, need a strong-willed, faithful advocate on their side.

The pope said Jan. 1 that in his pastoral ministry, he learned so much about the meaning of true unconditional commitment from the mothers he met whose kids were in jail, addicted to drugs or victims of war. Neither cold nor heat nor rain, he said, could stop these women from fighting for something better.

Much like the persistent widow, the mothers he met were the ones who were able to offer love and support to their suffering children "without wavering" through thick and thin.

Mary shows that humility and tenderness aren't virtues of the weak, he said, but of the strong, and that we don't have to mistreat others in order to feel important and make a difference.

-- To change the world, it starts at home.

Speaking on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, he again highlighted "those fighting mothers" he knew back in Latin America.

Often alone and with no help, they were able to raise their children right, he said. Mary is our "female fighter" facing off a mistrustful, lazy, distracted world -- "a woman who fights to strengthen the joy of the Gospel, give flesh to the Gospel" in the world.

-- To help people, you must be in touch with a hard reality.

In a letter to the world's bishops marking the feast of the Holy Innocents Dec. 28, the pope said they must listen for the sobbing of today's mothers because there are so many new Herods today, killing the young with their tyranny and "unbridled thirst for power."

Listen to where the cries are coming from, he said; they are not to be ignored or silenced. It's going to take courage to first acknowledge this difficult reality and work to ensure "the bare minimum needed so that their dignity as God's children will not only be respected but, above all, defended."

-- Sometimes the best answer is no answer.

Pope Francis again advocated the importance of using the heart over the head, and the church's need to be more sensitive to another's pain in order to bring God's hope and compassion.

During his general audience Jan. 4, he talked about Rachel's tears being seeds of hope and the futility of trite or insensitive speeches. Rachel's refusal to be consoled shows how delicately one must approach a person in pain, the pope said.

When people are hurting, "it is necessary to share in their desperation. In order to dry the tears from the face of those who suffer, we must join our weeping with theirs. This is the only way our words may truly be able to offer a bit of hope," he said.

Often it's only tears that can open one's eyes to the realities of life that need attention, he said.

When Pope Francis dedicated his audience talk to mothers Jan. 7, 2015, the feast of the Nativity for the Orthodox Church, he lamented how people had plenty of poems and "beautiful things" to say about moms, but at the end of the day "the mother is rarely listened to or helped in daily life."

Not only are they "rarely considered central to society in her role," he said, "the mother is not always held in the right regard, she is barely heard" in the church, too.

With his many reflections on motherhood, the pope is trying to bring that maternal warmth back to the church. But he has also called for the courage "to knock at the door" like the persistent widow because "the Lord himself says, 'Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.'"

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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.

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