No blessing of cars, religious items in Antipolo Cathedral

BY NEL ANDRADE

The National Shrine of the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, more popularly known as the Antipolo Cathedral in Antipolo City, is temporarily suspending the blessing of vehicles and religious articles as part of the measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The cathedral started to implement the measure on Monday to protect its personnel, including priests and lay ministers, from getting infected with COVID-19.

Prior to the placing of the National Capital Region and the provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and Bulacan under a General Community Quarantine (GCQ) bubble, the cathedral has been granting numerous requests for blessing of vehicles, from bicycles, to motorcycles, to cars and even trucks every day, especially on Sundays.

It is usually the cathedral’s lay ministers and seminarians who officiate the blessing of vehicles that is done outside the church or within the vicinity of the church while the blessing of religious articles is done inside the compound of the cathedral.

The cathedral has also announced in its Facebook page, ‘Birhen Ng Antipolo, the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage’ that all religious celebrations will be online effective March 22 until April 4, 2021.