Our Lady of Lourdes Parish – V&G, Tacloban City

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish was formally established in Decree on April 26, 1981 by the late Archbishop of Palo, Most Reverend Monsignor Cirpriano V. Urgel. Installed as the first Parish Priest was then Rev. Fr. Benjamin M. Bacierra. The new Parish independent of the Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Parish would comprise the territorial boundaries of the V & G Better Homes Subdivision inclusive of Barangays Caibaan and Calanipawan, and Imelda Village. The Patroness chosen for the new parish was in deference to the request of the late Doña Gorgonia de la Cruz who was a devotee of Our Lady of Lourdes. In fact she had a grotto to Our Lady made near the temporary chapel of the Parish.

In 1981 only the Legion of Mary existed. Later, the Confraternity of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Parish Choir were organized. Young people in the community formed the YESCAP named later as the Parish Youth Ministry and to become the Teens Encounter with Christ or TEC. In succeeding years, the Knights of Columbus, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, Confraternities of Our Lord, of the Blessed Mother, and of Saints were organized and established. Vocations for the priesthood came from among the Knights of the Altar. The newly established Catechetical Program in 1982 provided catechesis to the pupils of the V & G Elementary School. An instrument of initial evangelization was the Neo-Catechumenal Communities that found its way to the Parish in 1983.

Church services were conducted in a chapel located at the forked road fronting the wet market while the temporary rectory was a unit assigned to the engineer-grandson of the De la Cruz Family. Construction of the Parish Church was started only in the summer of 1983 although its ground breaking was in 1979 yet. Funds were generated through varied fund-raising activities including sports activities initiated by the newly organized Parish Sports Council. When Fr. Bacierra was transferred to another parish, the new parish priest, Rev. Fr. Isidro Arroyo saw to the completion of the Church construction, as well as that of the Rectory and the initial work on the Formation Center. It was during the assignment of Msgr. Benjamin Sabillo to the Parish that the Formation Center was completed. Other structures were introduced by Rev. Fr. Rolando Cuayzon. The present Grotto in the church plaza was an initiative of Rev. Fr. Gilbert G. Urbina.

From 1981 to 2006 when the Parish celebrated its Silver Jubilee anniversary, almost all pastoral programs were in place. The community of disciples consisted of Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Communion, lectors, psalmists, Knights of the Altar, catechists, religious organizations, faith communities, and renewal movements. Basic ecclesial communities started its organization on June 17, 2006 and piloted in Phase 2B. A Parish Council assisted the Parish Priest in various Parish activities. Services and ministries were officiated in the parish church and chapels. Meetings and religious activities were held in the conference room of the Rectory or its grounds, in the grotto, inside or alongside of the Parish church, and at the Formation Center. At present the parish has already 19 ordained in the diocesan and religious congregations