As the evening sun set over the mountains surrounding Agassiz, hundreds of faithful gathered at St. Anthony of Padua Church to celebrate the dedication of a new archdiocesan shrine to Santo Nino de Cebu and celebrate Filipino culture.
For Father Dennis O. Flores, the pastor of St. Anthony’s, the event was a great success. While Santo Nino, the Christ Child, has always been a popular and beloved devotion in the Philippines, Father Flores sees the dedication of the shrine as a way for the Filipino community to share their tradition and offer it as a gift to non-Filipinos.
“This was a big success not just for the Filipino community, but for all Canadians,” Father Flores told The B.C. Catholic. “The Santo Nino belongs to everyone now.”
The shrine was built with the donations of about 1,400 people from the Lower Mainland to the Philippines, with additional support from the Filipino community in Oregon who have their own shrine to the Santo Nino at the Grotto in Portland.
Archbishop J. Michael Miller celebrated the Mass of Dedication and in his homily thanked the Filipino community for their work building the shrine.
He also spoke about the deeper spiritual lessons to learn from meditating on the Christ Child.
“One important lesson that honouring the Santo Nino can bring to all of us is the need we have to pay more attention to the childhood of Jesus,” he said. “Children are dependent. In a world that talks endlessly about autonomy and the need to be independent, devotion to the Santo Nino can help us be at home in our dependence” which reminds us “we have a need for God.”
The archbishop echoed Pope John Paul II’s observation that just as Filipinos have a vocation to be “outstanding missionaries of the faith in Asia,” we are encouraged to become “missionary-disciples here in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.”
The rite of dedication followed the homily, as holy water was sprinkled around the building, the walls and altar were anointed with oil, and after Communion the red sanctuary candle was lit for the first time.
The Filipino community was out in full force, along with Cebu Mayor Michael Rama and a delegation from the city, current home of the minor basilica where the original Santo Nino de Cebu resides.
Rama congratulated the Filipino community for welcoming the Santo Nino into their hearts and homes, urging them to proclaim the kingship of Christ and always allow the image of the Child Christ to bring them closer to God.
He also gave thanks for the Santo Niño, before whose image he prayed when his expectant wife underwent surgery and safely delivered a son.
Also in attendance was District of Kent Mayor Sylvia Pranger who gave a short speech congratulating parishioners on the construction of the new shrine and thanking them for their many contributions to the community of Agassiz.
