- Target:
- Rev. Fr. Mark Ancheta, Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud
- Region:
- Philippines
The Divina Pastora of Gapan City has been a beacon of faith and hope for generations of Gapenses since the devotion to the Virgin Mary under that title was introduced by Doña Juana Valmonte in the late 1700s.
The many miracles attributed to the intervention of the Divina Pastora and the big number of her devotees did not escape the attention of Church authorities that she was declared as the second patron saint of the Three Kings Parish in the 1800s.
The original miniature image was considered a family heirloom of the Valmonte family who continued to keep it under its care, taking it to church only for the Divina Pastora’s novena and feast day.
To provide the Gapan church with its own Divina Pastora image, the then caretaker of the original image, Donata Valmonte-Cala, donated a big replica of the image sometime in the first half of the 1900s. The two images may not be exact duplicates but possess common characteristics – the Virgin Mary is shown seated, wearing a shepherd’s hat and holding a shepherd’s crook on the left hand, with a lamb on its lap, in the case of the original image, and beside it, in the case of the coronation image.
On December 19, 1963, Pope Paul VI issued a papal bull for the canonical coronation of the image under the name “Divina Pastora”. For the ceremony that took place on April 26, 1964, the church-owned replica image was used, with the original miniature image being given a place of honor at the altar and similarly crowned. From that time on, the replica image of the Divina Pastora came to be called the “coronation image”.
On February 13, 1986, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines approved the elevation of the Gapan church as a national shrine of the Divina Pastora, referring to the image as “Mary, Divina Pastora”. In time for that occasion, the Valmonte family donated the original miniature Divina Pastora image to the parish where it is now enshrined at the left altar of the church.
Lately, many parishioners of the Three Kings Parish were alarmed when they learned of a plan by the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Mark Ancheta, to alter the coronation image and make it more “liturgically correct” by adding an element not found on the original miniature image – the image of the Child Jesus on the Virgin Mary’s lap. This was confirmed when photos of the altered Divina Pastora circulated on Facebook.
In addition, the parish priest wants the title “Divina Pastora” appended with “Ina ng Mabuting Pastol”.
The Divina Pastora of Gapan City NEVER included a Child Jesus; it was NEVER called “Divina Pastora, Ina ng Mabuting Pastol”.
We, who have voluntarily signed this petition, strongly oppose any alteration of the appearance and name of the Divina Pastora of Gapan.
We believe that:
1. Such changes completely disregard and trivialize the history and the unique character of Gapan’s Divina Pastora.
2. The modification of the Divina Pastora’s name runs counter to the previous pronouncements of Pope Paul VI and the Catholic Bishops Conference regarding its official title.
3. Fr. Mark Ancheta, in implementing his plans regarding the Divina Pastora, is overstepping the limits of his prerogatives as a parish priest.
4. Fr. Ancheta's moves will sow confusion among the Divina Pastora devotees and worse, divide the faithful.
We ask Fr. Ancheta to respect local religious history, tradition and heritage and stop the implementation of his controversial plans.
We also urge Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud and other higher Church officials to intervene and resolve this sensitive parish issue as soon as possible.
The Leave our Divina Pastora alone! petition to Rev. Fr. Mark Ancheta, Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud was written by Ramon R. Valmonte and is in the category Religion at GoPetition.