BACOLOD
[PHOTO - Photo
provided by the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos shows the 'Earth
Chapel' located at the university. The chapel, the first solar-powered religious
structure in the country, is made of indigenous materials and recycled
objects.]
MANILA,
MARCH 22, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By
Evelyn Macairan - When you visit the chapel inside the University of Negros
Occidental-Recoletos in Bacolod, you would not only be able to listen to the
word of God but get the chance to reconnect with nature.
This is what the faithful can experience when they visit the chapel, dubbed
as the first environment-friendly chapel ever built in the Philippines.
CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said that the construction of the chapel
was a collaborative effort of three Negrense artists who offered their talents
and skills pro bono to build the Earth Chapel. They share the common advocacy of
protecting the environment.
The chapel structure was made of indigenous and locally available materials
such as mud, bamboo, rice straw and stalk and cogon grass and recycled objects
including wine bottles, discarded tiles, discarded wood slabs and other bits and
pieces.
Brother Tagoy Jakosalem, a Recollect friar and an official presenter of The
Climate Reality Project, did the interior of the chapel and incorporated
renewable energy into the structure, making the chapel true to form and function
in its liturgical scheme.
"The chapel is the first solar-powered religious edifice in the country. It
is envisioned to have both a sound spiritual and environmental atmosphere. LED
lights are used to illumine the interior. Wine bottles are incorporated in the
structure, natural lighting effects emanating from the green-colored wine
bottles, serving as recyclable stained-glass windows," said Jakosalem, who is
also an environmentalist personally trained by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice
President Al Gore through The Climate Reality Project.
The other artists who worked with Jakosalem were Marisol Alquizar, a visual
artist who spends her time building mud houses in Negros Island, and Nunelucio
Alvarado, a leading social-realist painter in the country.
Alquizar designed the chapel while Alvarado transformed his pen and ink
version of "Kristo ni Alvarado" into a colorful mosaic as the chapel's
centerpiece.
"Working on a mud chapel is a labor intensive exercise; that truly needs
collective manpower. The chapel started its skeleton from the hands of volunteer
students, who are all active members of the Tsinelas of Hope, offering their
time to give life to the chapel," Jakosalem said.
"We are envisioning the chapel to be the center of our ecological reflection,
owing to the spiritual inspiration of our Creator; hoping to be transformed to
be men and women of faith committed to protect and preserve the earth," he
added.
Meanwhile, Rodne Galicha, the Philippine district manager of The Climate
Reality Project, said the Earth Chapel is a sustainable spiritual edifice that
reconnects people to nature, to "what we have been."
"This is the 8th R which we always emphasize, reconnecting ourselves to
Nature, to the creation and to the Creator. Unless we are able to realize that
we are part of the whole creation, we will not be able to solve this climate
crisis," Galicha said.
The Climate Reality Project in the Philippines is currently doing its
bottom-up information education campaign with the grassroots to promote
awareness of the climate crisis.
The group promotes climate change adaptation and mitigation through
observance of 8-Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, refuse, rethink, rainforest
and reconnect.
"We are called to be stewards of creation and there is a need to re-establish
the role of spirituality in restoring the integrity of creation," Galicha
said.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
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