The birth of a new parish is always a cause of joy for the Christian communities. It calls for a celebration because it affirms that the Catholic Church is growing and expanding and her mission continues to bring people intimately closer to God and help them design and change their lives through faith and action. Though enormous task and obstacles await for the new shepherd, the shepherd must go and prepare his flock to build the Church. Like other local Christan communities, the Parish of St. Teresa of Avila has a humble beginning. Upon the initiative and recommendation of Very Rev. Arkie Caceres, Parish Priest of Saint Bartholomew Parish in the municipality of Baao, the incumbent Archbishop of Caceres, Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP, DD approved the creation of the seventieth parish in the local church.
On January 29, 2005, Archbishop Legaspi canonically erected the new parish and installed Rev. Fr. Danilo Aquilar as its first parish priest. The new parish is consists of ten barangays and one sitio: Nababarera, Pugay, Del Pilar, Caranday, Sta. Teresa, Antipolo, San Juan, Bagumbayan, Sagrada and San Vicente.
The new parish has a total of 13,423 and 12,183 of 92% (as of May 2002) of it belongs to Catholic fold. The remaining percentage is unequally distributed to diffrent sects and religious denominations. Since its creation, the parish has given birth to seven religious organization that actively render their service to the parish. These are the Knights of the Altar, Lectors Guild, Collectors Guild, Lay Eucharistic Ministers and Couple for Christ.
At the moment, the main concern of the parish is the church construction that has gained favorable support from the people here and abroad. We are also intensifying our socio-pastoral programs through our school catechesis and family formation programs.
We need your spiritual and financial support. We hope to solidify all our efforts and actions to the building of the kingdom of God. Please help us build our church. |
