Sunday, August 28, 2005

Church vs. Dengue

Prayers to ward off dengue in Cebu

Inquirer News Service

CEBU CITY--Catholic parishes in Cebu will storm the heaven with prayers to ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to hold off dengue, which has claimed the lives of 43 people in Cebu City and in the province from January to August this year.

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has ordered the parish priests in Cebu to pray a novena--a nine day Catholic prayer service service, to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cebu's patron saint, "specifically for the intention of warding off the evil of dengue, in all of our parish churches."

He asked the priests to begin the novena as soon as possible and that a small procession with the image of the Blessed Virgin be held within the Church compound after every novena.

"As we face the danger of this dreaded mosquito-borne disease, our thoughts go back to that salvific event in 1902 when the cholera epidemic that ravaged Cebu was halted through the powerful intercession of Mary, the Lady of Guadalupe," said Vidal in his circular dated Aug. 20 that appeared in the Sunday's issue of Ang Lungsuranon, the official newsletter of the Cebu Archdiocese.

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