ANTIPOLO City – A national organization of minor basilicas, shrines and pilgrimage sites will convene in Antipolo City next month for their annual general assembly.
The gathering of the Association of Catholic Shrines and Pilgrimages of the Philippines (ACSP) will be held at Our Lady of Antipolo Retreat House from Sept. 26 to 28.
Now on its 27th year, the assembly will be hosted by Diocese of Antipolo, home to the first international shrine in the Philippines: the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
This year’s theme is “Developing a Systematic Approach to the Role of Shrines as ‘Dynamic Sources of Continuing Evangelization’ (Prædicate Evangelium, art 6, par. 2)”
Among the speakers include Fr. Reynante Tolentino, Rector of Antipolo’s International Shrine and ACSP Vice President for NCR and Southern Luzon; and Kendrick Ivan B. Panganiban, author of the book, “The Role of Shrines in view of the New Evangelization: Pope Francis’ Theology on Shrines and Pilgrimages applied in the Philippine Context”.
“The reflections of our speakers will hopefully update us on our role in the Church evangelizing mission today,” said ACSP president Fr. Roderick Castro, who is the rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City.
Participants will also be taken to a whole-day pilgrimage in different shrines of the diocese.
The upcoming event will mark the first time that the ACSP will hold its general assembly since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The last was held in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in 2019.
Organizers said the assembly is open to delegations from canonically approved shrines in the country or organized pilgrimage promoters.
Founded in 1991, the ACSP was officially adopted as a ministry of the CBCP – Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People.
