AFTERWORD
As we extend the walls of our classroom and promote
a more inclusive education we see the beauty of our church
beyond her concrete walls, this time in the heart of our people.
-Rev. Fr. Ramonclaro G. Mendez, O.P.
Journey from the Heart of the Church
Albay’s Citadels of Faith was a derivative of the Albay Architectural Heritage Project (AHHP)―a trailblazing if ambitious and unique enterprise, in this part of the country, collaborated on by Aquinas University of Legazpi and the Provincial Government of Albay under the leadership of Governor Dr. Fernando V. Gonzalez.
The AAHP was essentially an architectural and cultural/anthropological study of the stone churches built in the province of Albay by the Spaniards employing native labor and construction skills and materials guided by the Laws of the Indies then in force.
The architectural part of the study was undertaken by engineering and architecture students of the University’s Polytechnic Institute under the supervision of their faculty. They gathered as-built measurements, designs, and materials data. The cultural/anthropological aspect was entrusted to selected faculty members of the College of Arts, Science and Education. The Father Rector and President sent out a team from his staff to dig into the history of the churches under study. The data gathered by the different teams served as the foundation upon which Albay’s Citadels of Faith would stand to express appreciation as well as invite further examination.
Appreciation comes in the area of the engineering and architectural ingenuity of the church builders; on the churches being comfortable sanctuaries not only against natural and man-induced disasters but also in cultivating a life of forgiveness and love, in the passage of time.
“Where does the beauty of the church reside?” was posed by the Father Rector and President in a conversation. This is where the invitation for further examination comes in.
Meanings can be found in stone blocks but not faith, certainly. People may look at a church as a building but does a church lose its meaning when the building gets destroyed? The life of the church does not depend on the stone. The church building is not a place where God is kept but one that serves as a human platform for His unfolding. Has it ceased to be a colonial symbol and become a dwelling place of the people, gathering in prayer and living the faith? Albay’s Citadels of Faith is not at all about lifeless monuments; it should lead to an inquiry if the Church has grown after over four hundred years of existence here.
The study has given our students a touch of the past, an appreciation of the necessity for both enhancement and preservation, an understanding of the Church. And the University is doing this and more in the service of the Church and the Diocese. – Raffi Banzuela
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