Within these next two years or so, the Diocese of Libmanan is set to fully implement its newly reformulated pastoral program centered around the theme of shepherding, after the words of Jesus in John 21,15 where He tells Peter, “Feed my sheep.” It was during the diocesan synod of 2014 when the clergy and the lay faithful of the diocese were able to determine such a missionary theme as a way of living out the vision of the local Church that was, on the other hand formulated shortly after the Prelature of Libmanan was elevated into becoming a diocese in 2009. Celebrating the silver jubilee of its creation in 1989, the local Church of Libmanan gathered into a Pastoral Assembly in 2010 and reformulated a vision for its missionionary life, that of becoming “a Church growing towards communion and living witness to the Kingdom” (Sarong simbahan na nagtatalubo pasiring sa kaboronyogan asin buhay na saksi sa kahadean).
During the synod of 2014, the delegates saw that the best way of putting such a vision into reality is to fullfill Christ’s injunction: “Feed my sheep.” Moreover, if such injunction is to be carried out, the delegates also saw that the whole evangelical mission had five dynamically integrated dimensions: a) renewal in our life and holiness and service, b) renewal of agents of change, c) renewal of evangelized and evangelizing community, d) renewal of social ministry, and e) renewal of responsible stewardship.
It was in 2023, during the strategic planning that the clergy fully realized that fulfilling the demands of these dimensions is indeed a concrete way of “feeding Christ’s flock” in the local Church of Libmanan. In other words, both clergy and lay faithful identified that theirs is a “shepherding mission” if the local Church is to grow towards communion and lving witness to the kingdom. It is a shepherding mission that aims at renewing the faithful in their life of holiness and service, one that is based on the knowledge that they are themselves the agents of change if renewal is to be achieved, a mission that continues the vision of old of a Church that is constituted by community members who are both evangelized and evangelizing, commited to a renewed to social ministry, and finally animated by the spirit of responsible stewardship.
Through this shepherding mission it is hoped that the local Church would grow from three different perspectives, namely, in liturgy, in development and liberation, in terms of synodal communion, participation, and mission, all projecting a local Church—through its concrete face, the SKK’s—that is worshiping, caring and evangelizing. These are the marks to look for in the small Christian communities (SKK’s), if their growth in the life of faith is to be measured. During the first year of implementation, as the mission is carried out, the focus is the family, the locus of all efforts is the SKK, the process is synodal shepherding, and the spirituality is to be animated by the Word and the Eucharist in life and faith-expressions of the Catholic faithful.
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The Pastoral Program: Concretely at a Glance
General Objective:
Within the next six years (2024-2029), the Diocese of Libmanan aims to establish in every parish an SKK-oriented way of “Feeding the Lord’s Sheep” through the dynamic integration of the five-dimensions of its shepherding mission towards growth in three areas/perspective of liturgy, development and liberation (also in communion, participation and mission; worship, care, and evangelization).
Specific Objectives:
On the Clergy: To provide the clergy, seminarians and the religious, periodic guidance that they may grow in holiness and to accompany them with technical support that they may enhance their ways of shepherding.
On the SKK: To provide a gradual process of renewing and empowering the agents of change through regular workshops and formation programs.
On Evangelization: To accompany the evangelizing agents of change and equip with corresponding tools for evangelizing until all five dimensions are realized in the pilot SKK’s.
On Social Concerns: To accompany the agents of change with skills in social ministry and social communications until at least one program of the Caritas Diocese of Libmanan (CDL) becomes operational and functional in the pilot SKK’s.
On Responsible Stewardship: To fully implement and make functional the diocesan statutes consisting of the current manuals of policies and procedures drawn by the different diocesan commissions.