The parish is administered by the Augustinian Order (OSA),and operates as a mission parish under the Diocese of Surigao. The Parish of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is the lone Catholic Parish in the Municipality of Socorro, a town with total land area of 12,445 hectares situated in Bucas Grande Island, Province of Surigao del Norte. This 5th class eastern seaboard town in CARAGA Region (Region XII
I) fronting the vast Pacific Ocean in the island’s eastern sides is comprised of 14 barangays, with a total population of 21,804 for the year 2012 NSO census. Socorro is richly endowed with diverse land and aquatic flora and fauna, numerous islands and coastal rock formations, natural caves, and pristine white beaches that draw considerable number of tourists. Socorro was granted the official municipal status on February 22, 1961 in the Executive Order No. 219 by then President Diosdado Macapagal. The locality progressed as a town from the once sleepy barrio settlement called “Bunga” during the concluding part of the Spanish Colonial era and early part of the 1900s. The island municipality had a bloody history of resistance against the American colonial government and the Roman Catholic Church, with the said conflict expectedly stemming from nationalist fervour and anti-colonial religious sentiments. In 1917,religious-leaning called Cofradia de Sagrado de Jesus from Maasin, Leyte migrated and settled in Socorro. Membership in the group grew as earlier island settlers joined them. The leader of the Cofradia, however, broke up eventually with the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1923, he joined the schismatic nationalist group Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church) or more popularly known as the Aglipayan Church. This enraged the Catholic priest of the neighboring town of Dapa in the adjoining Island of Siargao prompting him thus to report to the Provincial Constabulary that these groups in Barangay Pamosaingan would potentially pose a threat in revolting against the government. The police initiated action it took an ugly turn resulting into the breakdown of law enforcement. Atrocities ensued as the locals retaliated. Few more successive military actions were conducted that, by January 1924, the skirmishes resulted to the death of 16 soldiers and 40 local men. The American government continued to impose more force against the rebels but later on negotiated for the local combatants’ surrender and for attainment of harmony in the troubled island of Bucas Grande. Haunted by the past circumstances of religious and political acrimony, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Surigao, erected on June 3, 1935, was confronted with considerably big challenge as it started to establish formally its presence in Bucas Grande Island. It was approximately in that same year 1961 in the town of Socorro that the Catholic mission church was established bearing the original name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (M.S.C.) were considered as the first mission administrators of the parish. This was because earlier in the history of the Diocesan foundation, its first two Episcopal heads were M.S.C. bishops (+John Vrakking, MSC, 1940-1953; +Charles van de Ouwelant, MSC, 1955-1973). missionaries came into the scene with the appointment of Most. Rev. Miguel Cinches, SVD as Bishop Ouwelant’s successor. He brought with him some priests from his congregation who administered mission posts like Socorro for a couple of decades. Before his retirement in 2001, Bishop Cinches positively responded to the desire of Filipino Augustinians (O.S.A.) of the Province of Sto. Nino de Cebu-Philippines to establish a mission post in Mindanao. He welcomed them and gave the Parish of Our Mother of Perpetual Help parish to the Friars for their administration in ad experimentum status. The O.S.A. pastoral management and formal parish administration in Socorro would be mutually affirmed and approved subsequently by Bishop Cinches’ successor, Most Rev. Antonieto Cabajog, the current Diocesan Bishop. The Filipino Augustinians had already celebrated in 2011 their 10th year of missionary presence in Socorro. And by 2014, the friars and the parish community will be commemorating the 10th anniversary of the parish under the formal administration of the Augustinians. The friars have been ministering as best as they can the Catholic faithful in Socorro even if they constituted only as a minority of 24% of the entire population of the town which is predominantly Aglipayan. Some dominant lay leaders of this religious group have been hegemonic in their control over the economic, political, educational, historical and religious lives of their members. Power and domination has been at play for over so many years among few competing influential families and their followers in this isolated town. Hence, local governance, employment and business opportunities are comprised to a large extent by political expediency triggered by religious affiliation and economic influence. This is why expanding the Catholic membership is noticeably a perennial challenge in Socorro as traces of religious rancour and prejudice inimical to Catholics are still subtly felt. Nonetheless, like the former missionaries, the Augustinians have been more ecumenical and gracious in their approach to non-Catholic persons and local officials. They have generally shown courtesy and interacted kindly with them, constantly exhibiting the Augustinians’ genuine humanity. By manifesting civility, respect, amity and common good, the Friars have gradually gained the respect of and concord with the community. It was their simple yet concrete way of Christian witnessing in the midst of religious diversity. The presence of the Augustinians in Socorro for more than a decade is indeed worth-celebrating. However, with the challenges that the Order of St. Augustine has to deal with in this mission, like financial viability and sustainability of the mission, it still needs to improve. One way of doing is to really engage parishioners as dynamic co-managers of the priests. Finding ways to make the Augustinian missionary endeavours work effectively and efficiently is a test which must be taken seriously. But they should never be anxious of this challenge for as long as the laity and the entire parish community would be empowered by the friars as their partners in running the Parish of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
