Eric and Junie Visit Butag Parish Priest

Eric’s article ‘Kudos to Peewee’ got me curious enough about the place and Peewee’s accomplishments as a parish priest that I decided I’d visit the place one day. That day came on Saturday, April 16, prompted by a text message from Eric that he was home in Bulan and by the SORECO II advisory which said that the whole province would have a power outage from 8 am to 5 pm. (What would I do the whole day without electric power?)

I arrived in Bulan around 12 noon and was treated to a lunch fit for a king by Eric’s family (Salamatonon Pards. Regards to your beautiful mother and sisters). Around 2 pm, we went to Butag on board a tricycle. (For those who haven’t gone to Butag, it’s a coastal barrio 3.5 kilometers away from the highway.)

We set foot on the Parish around 2:30 and had to wait for an hour for Fr. Peewee to arrive from Sorsogon. While waiting, we decided to take a look at the place and take some pictures. Then, we settled at the parish office where Eric got down to interviewing the parish secretary about Peewee, asking leading questions most of the time and shooting silly ones at other times. Good that the secretary knew how to answer. Not once did she reveal anything that might be damaging to her boss, choosing to answer only the questions that put his boss in a positive light.

Peewee arrived from Sorsogon around 3:30. From the time of his arrival to the time of our departure (around 5 pm), we talked mostly about his ministry and the diocese. [Eric, it turned out, was in the dark on the administrative setup of and on certain other things about the diocese--the Presbyterian council, the vicariates, the manner of choosing the vicar general, the priests’ honoraria. So, Peewee gave him a crash course on the matter.]

We saw for ourselves that the parish really needed donations for the completion of the renovation of the church and the improvements on the parish house which Peewee described as unfit for human habitation at the time of his arrival in the parish. (Peewee was still wondering how the previous occupant managed to live there.)

The renovation of the church that Peewee has initiated is commendable and deserves support. Peewee can't rely on his parishioners for financial help so he travels abroad and begs for donation. (The regular collection won't go far. Peewee pointed out to us the amount of collection for one week written on his bulletin board: only a meager P687.75.)

Batchmates, our classmate is doing fine as a parish priest, if we go by the parish secretary’s words. And Eric and I believed (and still believe) her when she said that the parishioners love their parish priest not only for his mild manners but for what he has achieved in so short a time—the renovation of the church and the parish house.

Keep building the church, Peewee. Never waver in your resolve to build your church even when the donations are hard to come by. Remember the film Field of Dreams? Take heart from the gem of an advice from that film, “If you build it, they will come.”

Junie