“A People Called by the Father in Jesus Christ to become a Community of Persons with Fullness of Life, witnessing to the Kingdom of God by living the Paschal Mystery in the Power of the Holy Spirit with Mary as our Companion,” is the “vision” the archdiocese [of Manila] has adopted.
The statement was presented on Oct. 22, 2005 at the close of the two-day Manila Archdiocesan General Pastoral Assembly (MAGPAS), by Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales of Manila. About 2,000 people attended the assembly, held in San Juan, east of Manila.
According to the assembly´s final statement, the archdiocesan vision statement was needed, because “when the Archdiocese of Manila encompassed the whole of Metro Manila, Cardinal Sin allowed the auxiliary bishops to develop ´district visions … (that) naturally differ from one another.” The assembly communique said that Archbishop Rosales, the late Cardinal Jaime Sin´s successor as archbishop, initiated a pastoral assembly to consolidate a single vision that would “articulate the archdiocesan identity … experiences and desires.”
The 42-word vision statement finalized and presented Oct. 22 was a slightly revised version of the draft vision statement presented to all 85 parishes, 12 ministries, and Religious, lay and school communities in the archdiocese four months prior to the assembly.
“Even in just a short expression, vision has the capacity to give a direction, instilling a purpose in a person or in a community,” Then-Archbishop Rosales told assembly participants during his homily at Mass on Oct. 21. He added that the vision is attainable, anchored in the Word of God and charted to pursue goals such as the “fullness of life” promised by Jesus Christ. This fullness of life he explained, “is the liberation from enslavement of ignorance, poverty, sickness, selfish attitudes and, ultimately, sin.”
