TAWI-TAWI – Catholic parishioners have gathered at a church in the southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi as part of an ongoing effort toward beatification of their slain bishop, the Union of Catholic Asian News reported Tuesday.
It said men and women and children assembled at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Bongao town over the weekend and listened to members of the Bishop Benjamin de Jesus Beatification Movement explain the survey they are conducting.
The movement was started in 2003 to work for the beatification of the previous bishop of Jolo, who was killed in 1997. Gunmen shot De Jesus just outside the church called Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in downtown Jolo, 950 kilometers southeast of Manila, where the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo is based.
Carmen Gobaton, a beatification movement member and Jolo church worker, explained to parishioners in Bongao the inspiration behind her group's efforts and why they are asking people how long and how well they knew the bishop.
Survey forms also ask how people got to know the bishop, what kind of qualities they observed in him and what significance his death held for them.
The movement is a "spiritual" initiative and has no "political agenda," Gobaton stressed at the orientation session. She told UCA News the gunmen who shot the bishop may have killed the prelate’s body, but they did not quell his spirit or his influence on the people he met during his ministry in Jolo.
Among the projects the bishop began were housing for tricycle drivers, cooperative stores and livelihood programs for the Badjao and Muslim Tausugs.
Gobaton said Tawi-Tawi is her group's third survey area. Earlier this year about 170 Muslims, Christians and Badjao responded to surveys conducted in their communities. Among them were members of Basic Ecclesial Communities and the late bishop's cooperatives, beneficiaries of his housing projects and Notre Dame of Jolo students and their parents.
In Siasi town, on a small island south of Jolo, at least 55 people of various religious and cultural groups responded to the survey, also earlier this year.
One man told researchers that in his predominantly Badjao Tuhug-tuhug community, the slain bishop came to be known as "Father Bishop" because he visited them frequently as a priest.
"He made an effort to come for anniversaries of programs such as the foundation of the Badjao learning center. He ate with us and spent time with our children in the kindergarten," the man told the volunteers conducting the survey.
An imam (Muslim prayer leader) credits Bishop de Jesus for inspiring him to become a prayer leader.
"He taught me to be prayerful," the imam said. One man claimed he would be dead by now if not for the late bishop's "compassion." He explained that he had gotten "very sick" and the bishop took him immediately to the hospital emergency room.
Gobaton said the movement for Bishop de Jesus' beatification began after the chairperson of Jolo's worship committee, Juludi Elam, shared at a Lenten activity in 2003 about how the slain bishop had inspired her and many others.
Those present at the Lenten event, including two deacons of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and lay parishioners "close" to Bishop de Jesus, suggested they work for the bishop's beatification and martyrdom cause.
They began meeting regularly until they identified the tasks to be accomplished and assigned people to do the research. They also agreed to compile the bishop's writings, including his letters.
In the past year, movement members have met the fourth Sunday of every month to pray and reflect on their experiences with the late bishop.
Gobaton said people given pieces of cloth from Bishop de Jesus' vestments have reported healings. Some people also told researchers they became well after praying to the late bishop for his intercession.
Born in the Malabon district of Manila, Bishop de Jesus served as a member of the Oblate outreach program at Notre Dame College in Jolo in 1976, nine years after being ordained a priest. He later became school president, and in January 1992 Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop and apostolic vicar of Jolo, succeeding then retiring American Bishop George Dion.
Witnesses to his killing claimed to have seen three men approach the bishop before they shot him in the head and chest, killing him instantly. One suspect, Mubin Madangan, was later arrested and tried for the murder, but the trial was halted and he was released in June 2000 after a key witness died.
Locals had told UCA News they suspected a politician was behind the bishop's assassination. They claimed a witness had identified the gunmen as aides and a nephew of the politician. (UCAN)
