No Parade

We welcome the statement released by the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools or BACS regarding their opposition to the tradition of having a military parade during the week of the Novena to Our Lady of Peñafrancia. As all sectors are enjoined to re-examine the manner in which we celebrate INA's feast, the BACS' statement demonstrated the Catholic schools' efforts to participate in this call towards renewal.

While the reasons put forward by BACS in their statement are cogent and pertinent, they raise several concerns nonetheless. One of which is whether non-Catholic schools would join BACS in opposing the presence of the traditional Military Parade during the Peñafrancia Fiesta week. The other is whether other sectors in the community are themselves conducting a re-examination of the practices during the week of the Novena; for instance, those engaged in trade.

Finally, the BACS statement and argument raises the important-and perhaps, crucial-question of which activities and practices enhance or are relevant to the preservation and promotion of the devotion to INA. This applies not only to the activities initiated and undertaken by the state and the business sector which are currently being subjected to this scrutiny, but even to those by the church hierarchy itself.

The matter of whether non-Catholic schools would join their Catholic counterparts in the call to exclude the Military Parade from the activities to be conducted during the Novena week is of particular significance. On one hand, the ultimate goal of the call for renewal and re-examination is to promote the devotion to as many people as possible, while at the same time affirming and strengthening it among the devotees themselves. If non-Catholic schools opt to support the Military Parade during Novena week, this might lead to the creation of opposing camps, to division instead of unity. Such division might not serve the said goal of promoting the devotion.

The BACS' statement is laudable, no doubt; and we hope that its position and the reasons supporting it convince other non-Catholic schools from joining BACS in saying "no" to the Military Parade. Towards this end, the BACS may do well to initiate a dialogue with these schools on this issue.