ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
Holy Week unites Filipinos across regions and backgrounds. Families engage in special religious practices, such as praying the rosary, attending church services, and participating in processions. It’s a collective experience that transcends individual beliefs.
While it is a fact that the Philippines is not purely catholic it is the most dominant in terms of numbers. Of the 108,667,043 household population in 2020, nearly four fifths or 85,645,362 persons (78.8%) reported Roman Catholic as their religious affiliation. It was followed by Islam with 6,981,710 persons (6.4%), and Iglesia ni Cristo with 2,806,524 persons (2.6%). In 2015, these were also the top three religious affiliations in the country.
Completing the top ten religious affiliations in 2020 are Seventh Day Adventist, and Aglipay (0.8% each); Iglesia Filipina Independiente (0.6%); Bible Baptist Church (0.5%); and United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Jehovah’s Witness, and Church of Christ (0.4% each). Figures from PSA.
The Catholics observes with humble yet consistent frequency Lent or Quaresma . What we see in the shared practices and experience of sharing the passion of our Lord. And it is a good thing for the whole of nation is being admonished to be good on a week and perhaps on all days of the year.
Lent gathers families, set aside differences and make people open to the pouring of God’s message of sacrifice. Its a time of ushering in love and propagating hope in Christ resurrection. It’s a time where a country divided by political squabbles and polarized by power plays is once again united as mere mortals, Philippines become again a nation of devout people.
