BECized Diocese

(Excerpt of Archbishop Romulo G. Valles’ homily during the opening Mass of the 4th BEC National Assembly in San Pedro Cathedral on November 11, 2019 at 5:00 P.M.)

In 1976, Bishop Joseph Reagan, a Maryknoll Bishop of the Diocese of Tagum ordained me. The Diocese of Tagum then still included the territory of what is now the Diocese of Mati. And the Bishop of Mati now is here, Bishop Apigo. My ordination was held in the small and still is small parish of San Isidro, Davao Oriental. Practically, all preparations for my ordination were done through the 38 BECs of that parish, for food, for the welcome arches, and I remember there were 21 of them, 112 altar servers from all BECs. There were envelops for financial contributions for the celebration which were coursed through the BECs. Came ordination day BEC leaders and members were given prominence among the crowd of people who attended the ordination.

I am telling you this to underline the fact that I started my life and ministry as a priest in an already much (this is not proper English) BECized Diocese. I can still remember very well back in 1976, 1977, the palpable energy and enthusiasm and even healthy competition among priests in our journey of building up and developing our BECs at that time. That is why I am delighted that the 50 years of BEC experience is somehow highlighted in this assembly this week. It started in 1968 and the Jubilee in Tagum was opened last year and closing this year.

Last October 24, the death anniversary of Bishop Joseph Reagan, I went to his tomb. I remembered him in prayer and asked him, “Bishop Reagan, ang mga GKK is close to your heart. There is a coming National Assembly in Davao, please bless us and guide us.”

Today, I have this way of initially describing what the BECs are here in Mati, Tagum, Davao and Digos. Initial description lang, maybe shallow description. BECs are like jigsaw puzzle pieces that comprise the entire picture of each parish. No BEC pilot areas, no non-BEC areas, the parishes are totally BECized.