Erico Joseph T. Cañete
‘Museo Parroquiál de Baclayon’ in the eyes of a Tour Guide
I vividly remember our Basic Tour Guiding Seminar sponsored by the Department of Tourism back in 2002 when one of our mentors, Rev. Fr. Milan Ted D. Torralba, shared to us the spiritual significance of the material or tangible culture of Baclayon church. It was an impressive pragmatic spiritual encounter allowing us to see things that cannot be seen (culture as an abstraction) in the things that we see (tangible culture) in the context of our faith. From the plaza and portico façade, we moved in through the puerta mayor, marched on the nave all the way to the tabernacle. There I saw a new genre of evangelization beholding, listening and fathoming the metaphysics of liturgical arts, heritage and culture.
Questioning if we would visit Baclayon museum, he looked at me straight to my eyes with a nay. He explained that an ecclesiastical museum is not simply a place to store, protect and showcase liturgical art patrimony but above all, establish a retrospective vision of the legacy of Christianity and salvation. Sensus plenior, it should tell a story free from encyclopedic accidental inputs, though important, but always mistakenly highlighted as a substance that not even a single thing can be remembered after the tour.
I was in quandary what Fr. Ted meant, with all his endeavors, to establish a museum that tells a story. It took years for me to understand fully the denotation of his words.
During the soft opening of Baclayon museum on October 14, 2022, it was learned from the speech of Bishop Alberto (Abet) Uy, DD that our country in 2008, entered into an international agreement with the Holy See on the care of the cultural heritage of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. In 2017, the national agreement between the NCCA and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines elaborated the said international agreement.
The expertise, professional endeavor and love for culture and arts of Dr. Eric Zerrudo and Ms. Beverly Bautista, respectively director and technical assistant of the UST Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics, realized Fr. Ted’s dream and endeavor.
“I sincerely commend this indefatigable dynamic duo of Dr. Eric and Ms. Bev for this professionally curated and diligently articulated Baclayon church museum”, the good bishop said.
The opening of Baclayon Church Museum is timely as the Diocese entered into a tripartite Memorandum of Agreement with the Provincial Government of Bohol and the Bohol Provincial Tourism Council in which the commitment to collaborate on religious or faith-based tourism is well defined.
Baclayon church museum is a touch of heaven on earth through a display of liturgical arts that narrate the story of our salvation brought by Jesus Christ. The story is contextualized in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic church emphasizing on the culture of the Boholanos particularly us, Baclayanons.
What else could I ask for? We have the church. We have the museum. These are God’s gifts which help me, as a tour guide, evangelize in my own little way to our guests the presence of Christ in our lives through our faith and culture. Truly, it sanctifies my work as a tour guide.
Come and visit Museo Parroquiál de Baclayon.
Gratitude is equally extended to our Parish Priest Rev. Msgr. Harold Anthony Parilla, Parochial Vicar Rev. Fr. Roberto Supremo, guest priest Rev. Fr. Claverlito Migriño, past shepherds, church and museum workers, benefactors, the faithful of Baclayon, and the beautiful souls who labored in the retrieval, upkeep and preservation of these liturgical arts.
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam!
“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection”.
(Michelangelo)