Doing a Visita Iglesia Event a la Philippine-Style In Manhattan
My landlord said 'that's great!' as he sounded happy to hear me telling him that I joined a trip the previous night in visiting 7 churches in the occasion of the Lenten Season. After 4 years of receiving invites (probably), I managed to join the Catholic Fellowship of Young Filipino Professionals' VISITA IGLESIA. I soon found myself a bit under-attired as the weather was chilly and was soon grateful we kept on doing a trek to finish the goal of visiting 7 churches that are mostly in the Upper East Side (UES) nabe of Manhattan.
I must have counted at least 30 people who showed up to join an activity that demands participants to walk some distance; I was happy to meet with Bel, Michael, Victor and some immigrant Filipinos who I usually meet from time to time here in NYC. And I took the chance, too, to chat with Marge, AJ, Jessie, and others whose names I fail to recall now. Other than the extra benefits of getting myself exercised and the chance to engage with others, the point of this event (to me) is to afford the participants (myself, too!) to meditate on the passion of Christ during his last moments on earth before he was resurrected to fulfill his promise, being part of the mysterious Holy Trinity that Catholics worldwide adhere to as part of their collective faith.
I showed up at the latter part of the mass, where the whole place was loaded with so many people, which was being held at St. Patrick's Cathedral (5th Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets) where I waited for the organizers and participants to show up. We soon started the collective prayers by reciting the 1st and 2nd Stations of the Cross. The continuation came after we walked and gathered again at St. Agnes Church (43rd Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenue), which I remember visiting at least thrice when I happened to have a friend living around the corner. Then we walked again to get into the Holy Family Church (47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue), which I remember having been into one time I helped around in making and installing floral arrangements for other friends for a church event where a lot of workers from the nearby UN Headquarters showed up on a weekday. We headed up north to continue reciting prayers to meditate on the 7th and 8th Stations of the Cross at St. John the Martyr (55th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues), where I noticed the church's interiors were more modernist in style than the other churches I've been to in Manhattan. The trek continued to Our Lady of Peace Church (62nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), where our group recited the prayers in our handbooks while gathered outside of the church---a mass was then ongoing so we hoped we had managed to avoid disrupting the prayerful focus of those attending the mass.
St. Vincent Ferrer Church (Lexington Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets) came in next, which church I remember visiting many times before when I was trying to study the ins and outs of the UES. St. Catherine of Sienna's Church (68th Street between 1st and York Avenues) came in last where we recited the 13th and 14th Stations of the Cross, and where I asked a priest in his Dominican garb a question whether I could still go on confession even on a Good Friday (to which he replied 'Yes.'). I thought it's cute seeing Caucasians garbed in the traditional white Dominican frock; they reminded me of the priests from the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City in the Philippines.
After the socials at Patsy's Pizzeria ('they've been around since 1933'), I walked back to the closest subway station, already feeling chilly. I would have wanted another cup of hot coffee but no decent shop came my way where I could get one and enjoy while in the train back home in Staten Island. Hazy images went back into mind about the Visita Iglesia I did back in the Philippines, where we would take the car to get into our destinations; I smiled to myself and said a brief prayer of thanks.
I must have counted at least 30 people who showed up to join an activity that demands participants to walk some distance; I was happy to meet with Bel, Michael, Victor and some immigrant Filipinos who I usually meet from time to time here in NYC. And I took the chance, too, to chat with Marge, AJ, Jessie, and others whose names I fail to recall now. Other than the extra benefits of getting myself exercised and the chance to engage with others, the point of this event (to me) is to afford the participants (myself, too!) to meditate on the passion of Christ during his last moments on earth before he was resurrected to fulfill his promise, being part of the mysterious Holy Trinity that Catholics worldwide adhere to as part of their collective faith.
I showed up at the latter part of the mass, where the whole place was loaded with so many people, which was being held at St. Patrick's Cathedral (5th Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets) where I waited for the organizers and participants to show up. We soon started the collective prayers by reciting the 1st and 2nd Stations of the Cross. The continuation came after we walked and gathered again at St. Agnes Church (43rd Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenue), which I remember visiting at least thrice when I happened to have a friend living around the corner. Then we walked again to get into the Holy Family Church (47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue), which I remember having been into one time I helped around in making and installing floral arrangements for other friends for a church event where a lot of workers from the nearby UN Headquarters showed up on a weekday. We headed up north to continue reciting prayers to meditate on the 7th and 8th Stations of the Cross at St. John the Martyr (55th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues), where I noticed the church's interiors were more modernist in style than the other churches I've been to in Manhattan. The trek continued to Our Lady of Peace Church (62nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), where our group recited the prayers in our handbooks while gathered outside of the church---a mass was then ongoing so we hoped we had managed to avoid disrupting the prayerful focus of those attending the mass.
St. Vincent Ferrer Church (Lexington Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets) came in next, which church I remember visiting many times before when I was trying to study the ins and outs of the UES. St. Catherine of Sienna's Church (68th Street between 1st and York Avenues) came in last where we recited the 13th and 14th Stations of the Cross, and where I asked a priest in his Dominican garb a question whether I could still go on confession even on a Good Friday (to which he replied 'Yes.'). I thought it's cute seeing Caucasians garbed in the traditional white Dominican frock; they reminded me of the priests from the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City in the Philippines.
After the socials at Patsy's Pizzeria ('they've been around since 1933'), I walked back to the closest subway station, already feeling chilly. I would have wanted another cup of hot coffee but no decent shop came my way where I could get one and enjoy while in the train back home in Staten Island. Hazy images went back into mind about the Visita Iglesia I did back in the Philippines, where we would take the car to get into our destinations; I smiled to myself and said a brief prayer of thanks.
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