Catholics at Work

10/09/2026

JUST IN:

The Diocese of Tagbilaran joyfully welcomes home one of her own.

The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has appointed His Excellency Most Rev. Crispin Barrete “Bai” Varquez, D.D., as the 8th Bishop of Tagbilaran.

For the Diocese of Tagbilaran, this is more than the appointment of a new shepherd. It is a homecoming.

Bishop Varquez is a son of this Diocese - formed in its seminaries, nourished by its communities, and shaped by years of priestly ministry among its people. Now, he returns to the local Church that helped form him, entrusted with the pastoral care of the very Diocese he once served.

Born on December 5, 1960, in Sevilla, Bohol, Bishop Varquez began his priestly formation at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran, where he earned his degree in Philosophy. He later pursued his Theology studies at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Tagaytay, Cavite.

He was ordained to the priesthood on April 14, 1989.

His first priestly assignment brought him to Mindoro, where he served as an assistant parish priest. He would later dedicate a significant part of his ministry to the formation of future priests, serving as a formator at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran and at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Tagaytay during the 1990s until 2000.

Upon returning to parish ministry, he served as parish priest in several parishes of the Diocese of Tagbilaran. In January 2007, he was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese, serving closely in the pastoral and administrative life of the local Church.

His ministry then led him beyond Bohol.

On August 4, 2007, he was appointed Bishop of Borongan. He received episcopal ordination later that year and was installed as the sixth Bishop of Borongan, beginning a long episcopal ministry among the people of Eastern Samar.

For nearly two decades, he has served as pastor and shepherd of the Diocese of Borongan, accompanying its clergy, religious, and lay faithful in their life and mission as a local Church.

Now, the Lord’s providence brings him home.

The man who once served this Diocese as a seminarian, priest, formator, parish priest, and Vicar General now returns in a new role: as its Bishop.

There is something deeply meaningful in this homecoming. A bishop does not cease to be a son of the Church simply because he is entrusted with the office of shepherd. Rather, his identity as a son becomes the foundation of his fatherly care.

He comes home as a son - but he comes home to serve as a father.

As the 8th Bishop of Tagbilaran, Bishop Crispin “Bai” Varquez will now be called to lead, sanctify, teach, and accompany the People of God entrusted to his pastoral care.

The Diocese of Tagbilaran receives him with gratitude for the gift of his ministry, with joy for his return, and with confidence in the grace of God who has guided his vocation from Bohol to Eastern Samar and now back home.

After years away, a familiar son returns.
And the son of the Diocese comes home as its father.

Welcome home, Bishop Bai.

May the Lord grant him wisdom, strength, courage, and joy as he begins this new chapter of his ministry among the people of Tagbilaran.

07/09/2026

Happy Birthday Mama Mary ❤️
We love you our Mother. 🙂

30/08/2026

Official Statement ng Baclaran Church sa nangyaring kaguluhan kanina:

PAUNAWA AT PAGLILINAW

Ipinapaalam po sa lahat na nagkaroon ng insidente sa loob ng compound ng simbahan bandang 4:45–5:00 ng hapon ngayong AGOSTO 30, 2026, kung saan isang lalaking nakainom at may dalang baril ang nagdulot ng kaguluhan.

Mahalagang linawin na WALANG NAGANAP NA BARILAN sa insidente. Mabilis na nakapagresponde ang ating security personnel at mga awtoridad, at ang naturang indibidwal ay nasa kustodiya na ng pulisya.

May dalawang indibidwal na nagtamo ng minor injuries sa insidente at nabigyan na ng paunang lunas.

Hinihiling namin ang pang-unawa at pakikipagtulungan ng lahat. Hinihikayat din ang publiko na IWASAN ANG PAGPAPAKALAT NG HINDI BERIPIKADONG IMPORMASYON upang maiwasan ang kalituhan at pangamba.

Patuloy naming binibigyang-prayoridad ang kaligtasan at seguridad ng lahat ng mga deboto at nagsisimba.

Maraming salamat po sa inyong pang-unawa at pakikipagtulungan.
INGATAN NAWA TAYO LAGI NG DIYOS.

Fr. Rico John Bilangel, C.Ss.R.
Rector

22/08/2026

An elected official in the Philippines cursed the Holy Father, and the people listening to him laughed and cheered.
Video courtesy: TV Patrol, November 2015

21/08/2026

Bakit naging normal na sa Pilipinas ang pagbabanta sa buhay ng tao? Kailan ito nagsimula? Bakit normal na ang de@th thre@ts? Hindi ganito ang mga Pilipino noon.

17/08/2026

Pilipinas, lalo pa nating galingan sa susunod na halalan 2028 🇵🇭

16/08/2026

Tama ba o mali na tawaging $tupid0 ang Dios?

Please comment below.

15/08/2026

AUGUST 16 | San Roque / Saint Roch

Scarcely 32 years old when he died, it is generally accepted that Saint Roch was born about 1295 in Montpellier, France and died in 1327. St. Roch was the only child of rich and noble parents in southern France. John, his father, descendant of the kings of France, was also governor of their home city of Montpel­lier. He and his wife, Libera, were good Christian people. They had one cross. It was that they were aging and still childless. God at length heard their prayer. In due time a child was born, a boy, whom they named Roch, (pro­nounced rock).

Roch responded to the virtu­ous training his parents gave him. He was twenty when the turning point came to his life. It was the death of his parents. First there was his Christian father. He had hardly laid his aged father to rest amid the pomp due his rank and fortune, when Almighty God asked of him also the sacrifice of the dearest soul he still had on earth, his good mother.

Led by the loss of his par­ents, he renounced his principality and whatever property there was in favor of his uncle. The rest of his rich in­heritance he sold and distributed among the poor. He kept nothing for himself but a "PILGRIM'S GARB" and pittance. It is not known how he meant to spend his life; only that his thought for the time being was of making a pilgrimage to Rome, to visit the tomb of the Apostles.

The plague was abroad in Italy when Roch went afoot on his pilgrimage. Reaching a town called Aquapendente, he found St. John's hos­pital filled with the plague stricken. He offered his as­sistance to the head of the hospital. What time was left over from his day's work in the hospital, Roch spent in visiting and waiting on the sick in their homes. The peo­ple were agape at what they saw. Amazement gave way to veneration for this youth who was like the Archangel St. Raphael in the flesh to these people.

Secretly he stole away and went to Rome. There he satisfied his devotion to the holy Apostles. But he found more of the same kind of work waiting for him there. The mortality from the plague was frightful in Rome.
Other towns visited and simi­larly blessed by St. Roch were Cesena, Modena, Parma, Piacenza. God had his own designs in bringing Roch to Piacenza. His hard days of personal charity were to end with grievous sufferings. Roch became an invalid, suffer­ing steadily the severest kind of pain. In addition, he found himself afflicted with the plague. Leaving the hos­pital where he had been placed, rather than be a burden to others, he found his way out into the country to a little hut on the Trebbia River.

To all other suffering, there was now added that of complete abandonment by every­body when they should have helped him in his need as he had helped them in theirs.

But God did not abandon him. Tradition has it that rainfall helped refresh him and slaked his thirst, and when he at length felt the appetite for something to eat, a well-groomed hound appeared with a fresh roll between his teeth.

Learning that the plague had flared up again in Piacenza, yet hardly able to get about, he went to town daily to tend the victims, returning each night to his dilapidated hut.

The day came, however, when Roch felt called to return to his native city. He was about 27 at this time. He had been away for perhaps five years and the sufferings he had endured had so changed his appearance that nobody recognized him in Montpel­lier. He had in fact little time to be recognized. The region was at war, and he found himself picked up as a spy and thrust into jail the moment he arrived. For five years, up to his death, Roch remained in prison, appar­ently forgotten by the authorities over the stress of war. The day of release finally came, but it was also the day of release from the prison of the body. Roch knew that the time was at hand and asked for the last rites.

From papers found on his person and presently from the strange sign of the Cross which was his birthmark, Roch was known for the prince-heir that he had been. The sequel also disclosed an offer­ing he had made of his life, so that whoever should seek his help against contagion, should have his request grant­ed by cure or preservation.

Miraculous happenings fol­lowed Roch's death. Not only did the governor and all the surviving members of the relationship come forward to acknowledge their kinsman with a magnificent funeral, there was a steady issue of cures upon invocation of his name. A special church was built to enshrine the remains. Many years later in 1414, when the plague broke out at the General Council of Constance, it was a ready thought to invoke the aid of the saintly "pilgrim." His image was carried about in procession with the astound­ing result that the plague abated at once. The fame of this event was spread by the members of the Council to every corner of Europe and devotion to Roch increased rapidly.

Popes Urban VIII and Innocent XII instituted the feast in honor of "St. Roch."
The images of St. Roch show him either ministering to the sick or alone, attired in pilgrim's cloak and cap. A staff is in his hand, with the traditional pilgrim's wallet, sometimes indicated as· a scallop on his shoulder. A dog is at his side, recalling the story of his rescue on the Trebbia at Piacenza. At times he points to a mark on his side or his thigh, indi­cating either the storied birthmark or the pain which attacked him at Piacenza.
Today St. Roch is one of the popular saints, as a patron against diseases, notably as a healer of contagion of all kinds.

In life and after death, his life was a continuous miracle in this regard, and public veneration of his holy memory was for that reason never interrupted.

The main details of St. Roch's life were taken from the life of the Saint by Francesco Diedo, a venetian nobleman who in his day was governor of Brescia. This life was compiled near the main scene of the saint's activities in northern Italy and published in 1327.

Saint Roch, pray for us.

source: www.sanroqueparish.org

14/08/2026

Ano nga ba ang pinagkaiba ng ASCENSION at ASSUMPTION?

✏️ Ascension - pag-akyat sa langit gamit ang SARILING KAPANGYARIHAN. Ito ang ginawa ng Panginoong Jesus 40 araw pagkatapos ng kanyang muling pagkabuhay.

✏️ Assumption - ito naman ang pag-akyat sa langit dahil sa kapangyarihan ng iba. Ito ang nangyari sa Mahal na Birheng Maria, iniakyat siya sa langit ng Makapangyarihang Dios.

14/08/2026

August 15 | Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, You have destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life for body and soul. You granted your Mother a special place in your glory, and did not allow decay to touch her body. As we rejoice in the Assumption of Mary, grant us renewed confidence in the victory of life over death.

Amen.