SAN PABLO APOSTOL PARISH HISTORY

History

Long before the Papal visit of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul VI to the Philippines in the year 1970, the proposed plan to divide the parochial population of Sto. Niño Parish has already received the initial approval from the Cardinal of Manila, the late Rufino Santos.  This idea began in December 1968. It was the Papal Nuncio, Msgr. Carmine Rocco who continued the discourse and carried out the initiative to its concrete realization.  During that time, there were only three priests giving services at Sto. Niño Parish, making it hard and impossible to meet the growing needs of the parishioners, especially the poor in the squatters area.  In the latter days of November 1970, the Cardinal agreed to form two new parishes in the communities within the vicinity of the port of Manila in Tondo. One parish was established at the entry of the North Harbor area, to be called Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, entrusted to the Augustinian Recollects. The other parish is at the extreme end of the harbor (Magsaysay Village) giving parts of the territory of the parishes of Don Bosco and Sto. Niño, to be called the San Pablo Apostol Parish, in memory of the coming visit of Pope Paul VI, entrusted to Fr. Bruno Piccolo and Fr. Joseph Vancio, PIME Fathers.  Their presence in Tondo within the squatters area, the poorest of the poor, was a clear evangelical choice to bring the message of hope, light and truth; to share their life, their sufferings, and their insecurities.  It was to follow the path that God has shown in the history of salvation, to take as His own, the poor, and prepare for them a kingdom.  In this place, they discovered their mission, where they can witness that the church loves the poor.  Early in December 1970, the two PIME fathers wasted no time to find a place of their own, where they began a program of spiritual and material assistance to the community. They were able to purchase a small bungalow on a 500 sq.m. lot, located at Emilio Jacinto St., Magsaysay Village, and eventually constructed a small parish church, a meeting center and a residence. It was blessed and dedicated on Christmas Day, 1972 by the Most Rev. Carmine Rocco. It was in early January 1971, that the boundary for the new parish of San Pablo Apostol was set up.  It extended the whole area from Capulong St. to Vitas Tenement.  At present, the boundary extends from Herbosa Pritil until Vitas Tenement. As years went by, various groups of PIME Fathers came and went to the San Pablo Apostol Parish until  l979, which became the most memorable event for the parishioners of Nepo-Velasquez.  It was the year that the new chapel of San Pablo was built, with much appreciation to the combined efforts of Fr. Gianluigi Colombo, who was in charge of the place during that time and the parishioners themselves. It became San Pablo-B.  In 1981, the PIME Fathers left Tondo, after almost ten years of apostolate to the parish.  After the PIME Fathers, came the Congregation of the Society of St. Columbans, in the persons of Fr. Sean Connaughton for Magsaysay Village and Fr. Patrick O’Herlihy for the church in Neomuceno-Velasquez.  Fr. Pat O’Herlihy was able to build the San Pablo Apostol Parish Center with free medical and dental care for the sick poor people.  In July 1989, the Society of St. Columbans decided to leave Tondo, to usher in the Canossian Fathers, Fr. Stefano Arnone, who was installed as Parish Priest on December 1989 and Fr. Giovanni Gentilin, as Asst. Parish Priest.  So far, the most valuable program ever initiated by the parish is the SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, giving educational assistance from pre-school up to college to deserving children in the parish community.