Cardinal Calls For Prayers For Rain During Dry Spell
Aug 04, 2007
Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila has called Catholics to pray for rain as power outrages hit cities and farms report losses amounting to millions of pesos due to low rainfall.
MANILA (UCAN, 03/08/2007) -- Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila has called Catholics to pray for rain as power outrages hit cities and farms report losses amounting to millions of pesos due to low rainfall.
In an Aug. 1 circular, the cardinal directed priests and school directors in his archdiocese to lead prayers, starting with First Friday Masses on Aug. 3, to implore "the Master of all creation" to "send us rain."
His circular included English and Filipino versions of an oratio imperata (required prayer) he wants people to pray at Masses right after Communion.
The prayer asks for rain "to irrigate fields," "stave off a power shortage," "provide water for our bodily health" and "refresh our parched land."
"Raise your hand Almighty God to commence the normal rainy season that has now been long delayed so that crisis may be averted," it implores.
Cardinal Rosales issued his circular the day the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that 80,060 hectares of land planted with crops in the northern Philippine provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan lacked water.
The NDCC report also says 52 million pesos (US$1,136,000) worth of rice and corn in Quirino province, some 200 kilometers northeast of Manila, and 267 million pesos worth of the crops in Isabela province, north of Quirino, were damaged. Some 42,000 hectares of fishponds in Isabela reportedly "dried up."
On July 25, some places in the Manila region and surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal were without electricity for up to two hours. The National Power Corporation announced in a statement that the hydroelectric plants of San Roque, Binga and Magat in northern Luzon and Angat and Pantabangan in central Luzon had low water levels.
"People tasked with managing our water/power resources have warned that we face a crisis in those areas," Cardinal Rosales wrote in his circular.
In it he also stated intentions to be inserted into the Prayer of the Faithful at all Masses. The prayers ask God to "hasten to send the rain we badly need, especially in Luzon, so that the damage to crops and other livelihood and an impending power shortage may be averted."
Luzon, the largest Philippine island, forms most of the northern part of the country. It accounts for 57 percent of rice and 32 percent of corn production for national consumption, according to 2005 Department of Agriculture records.
On July 26, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration reported "dry spell conditions" in the northern and central Luzon regions and Metro Manila due to "below normal" rainfall during June and July, when the rainy season normally starts.
The administration posted the statement on its website and projected that a persistent dry spell may "develop into drought conditions in some of these areas, particularly Metro Manila." It predicted a dry spell until the end of September.
The Philippine Air Force conducted cloud-seeding operations July 19-31, the NDCC reported.
Even before the cardinal's circular, a group of farmers in Bagong Silang village, Nueva Ecija province, 130 kilometers north of Manila, resolved to pray novenas and stage processions in the afternoons until the rains return.
Jose Torres, assistant provincial agriculturist, told UCA News only 15 percent of the 44,679 hectares of rain-fed rice lands have been planted.
Farmers do not plant because they will not gain much profit with a "big expense in drawing water," explained village chief Rodolfo de la Cruz. He said farmers in his village have had to buy 180 meters of water hose and a water pump to draw water from rivers and streams. "This is the first time that we experienced this kind of dry spell," de la Cruz told UCA News on Aug. 1. He said villagers decided to pray because prayers have brought rain in the past.
Cardinal Calls For Prayers For Rain During Dry Spell