Backgrounder on Home of God’s Mercy
and Columbarium Extension Projects

IIn our announcement regarding the retirement of Msgr. Manuel Gabriel as parish priest of ROLP, we also announced that “The ROLP Board has formally relinquished to DOP [Diocese of Paranaque] effective immediately full management, operational supervision and control over all pending projects of the Parish, more particularly the Columbarium Extension project and the Home of God’s Mercy building project.”

For the information and better understanding of ROLP parishioners and other stakeholders, here’s a backgrounder on these two projects:

Flashback

1.	The Resurrection of Our Lord Parish (then known as the Parish of the Resurrection) was established in 1972 to serve the fast growing Catholic community in BF Homes, Parañaque, and the neighboring villages. Our original place of worship was a makeshift chapel where Veritas School now stands. In 1989, the late Msgr. Feliciano “Boy” Santos caused the construction of the present church on the adjoining vacant lot which at that time served as a parking area. The original chapel gave way to the present Veritas Parochial [now Catholic] School.
2.	The present ROLP church building, right from the very outset, was severely constricted by space limitations. No provisions were made for a rectory and parish office (which was remedied by extending the back of the church a few meters almost all the way to the street) and no meeting rooms were provided for parish organizations (each org had to fend for itself, meeting in restaurants, sometimes at Veritas school, and even in private homes).
3.	In addition, as the BF Commercial Center expanded over the years, the environment around the church changed. Church goers suffered from the humidity and air pollution generated by the surrounding concrete jungle, and from the noise and smell from passing traffic and the neighboring food establishments. And at night, the priests residing in the rectory were kept sleepless by karaoke bars blaring music all throughout the night.

Actions taken over the years

4.	The problem of meeting venues was momentarily solved during the tenure of Msgr Mario Martinez (2004-2011) with the construction of Immaculata Hall. Monsi Mario also addressed the then urgent need of Veritas Parochial School for additional space by transferring the old columbarium occupying the front of the Veritas building to a new location at the side of the main church. In the process, he constructed 360 niches. 150 of which were occupied by transfers from the old columbarium and 210 niches were made available for interested parishioners. These were all immediately taken.
5.	Monsi Mario also initiated plans for a new multi-story Parish Center at the site of the present Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration (PEA) chapel. This was designed to house a renovated PEA chapel, the parish office and a columbarium extension at the ground floor, and meeting rooms, a livelihood center and the rectory, including provisions for retired priests, on the upper floors. However, technical and other concerns had to be worked out first, and before Monsi Mario could even get to first base he was replaced as ROLP parish priest in a general reshuffling of DOP clergy in June 2011.
6.	Monsi Manny Gabriel took over as ROLP parish priest starting July 1, 2011, and immediately one of his very first acts was, to use his own words, to make ROLP a “prayer conditioned church.” He embarked on the air-conditioning of the whole church, followed by the enhancement of the sanctuary and altar, and the general renovation of the church interiors. ROLP is now truly a much welcome house of prayer as evidenced by the increased attendance at all Masses, daily and Sundays, and the testimonies of ROLP parishioners and even transient church-goers.
7.	Monsi Manny next turned his attention to other pressing concerns. There was a growing clamor for additional meeting venues as the Immaculata Hall was becoming inadequate for the needs of parish orgs and ministries, considering the accelerated pastoral programs he was introducing in the parish. Also, parishioners were pressing for additional columbarium niches for their departed loved ones. This was becoming urgent in light of the evolving demography of BF Homes as a “waiting area” for elderly residents moving on in years.
8.	To top it all, the add-on structure at the back of the church housing the parish office, sacristy and rectory, besides being inadequate for the needs of the parish priest, assistant/visiting priests and staff, was beginning to show structural faults which needed to be addressed immediately. Clearly an adequate and permanent solution to all these concerns was needed.

Home of God’s Mercy/Columbarium Extension

9.	The ROLP board proposed to Monsi Manny to revive Monsi Mario’s concept of a Parish Center, but with further enhancements to comply with new needs and multifarious regulatory requirements. The proposed new building was named the “Home of God’s Mercy” (HGM), to commemorate Pope Francis’ declaration of 2015-2016 as Year of Mercy.
10.	As intended, the HGM set off a chain reaction. First to be addressed (as an entirely separate project) was the columbarium extension. BF Homes Inc. said no to the columbarium extension within the HGM. So a new site had to be found. The answer: the back of the main church which was to be vacated by the transfer of the parish office and rectory to HGM when completed.
11.	But, first, the rectory and parish office had to be moved out so the place could be retrofitted and prepared for the columbarium extension. This was done by moving the rectory to a rented house in HARP and the parish office to a one of the stalls across the street from the left side of the church.
12.	In the meantime, all the necessary preparatory work for both the HGM and the columbarium extension was put in motion. The ROLP board took over full responsibility for planning and execution. For the HGM, this included coming up with new building plans, getting the necessary government permits and complying with other regulatory requirements, and putting in place a long-term fund-raising and maintenance mechanism. For the columbarium extension, this included finalizing the design and selecting the contractors to undertake the project. To use an oft-quoted phrase, we left no stone unturned.

Bishop’s hold order

13.	Our contractors started to demolish the back of the church in early February this year. Shortly after, to our consternation, we received a notice from the Diocese to put on hold all construction projects in all parishes pending the reshuffling of priests to take effect this coming June 30, 2017. We immediately protested to the bishop that, while this was all right with the HGM, since we had not yet begun any actual construction work on it, in the case of the columbarium extension we had already started tearing down the back of the church.
14.	In a meeting with the bishop at the temporary ROLP rectory in HARP last Feb. 8, the bishop even congratulated us for our efforts, and successful at that, in maneuvering through the labyrinth of government red tapes – and especially in securing BFH’s approval for HGM. He even said our roadmap could serve as a template for the diocese, or any parish, in undertaking similar projects. But he stood pat on his hold order for all major construction projects.
15.	Subsequent to the bishop’s hold order, we have been holding a series of meetings with the DOP team assigned to oversee our twin projects with a view to completing all documentations and resolving all other issues concerning especially the columbarium extension pending the appointment of our new parish priest who will take over implementation of the two projects.

Turn-over of projects to DOP

16.

But with the decision of Monsi Manny to retire as ROLP parish priest effective April 17, 2017, and with the designation of Msgr Allen Aganon, the DOP vicar general, as the acting parochial administrator until a new parish priest is appointed, we in the ROLP board decided to turn over full management, operational control and responsibility for the HGM and Columbarium Extension projects to the DOP. We then individually submitted to Monsi Manny our resignation from the ROLP board co-terminus with his retirement. We will continue, however, to serve the parish as the ROLP transition team to prepare for the smooth takeover by our incoming parish priest, and in our individual capacities.

17.

Finalization of the turnover is presently being worked out. This will be our final word on the two projects. All further announcements, if any, will henceforth come from the DOP team.

For your information and guidance.

ROLP EXECUTIVE BOARD

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