THE Word Alive Biblical Institute (WABI), a summer institute of John Paul I Biblical Center (JPIBC) in Vigan, recently concluded its three weeks summer course for Lay Ministers of the Word held at the Lay Formation Center of the diocese of Lingayen-Dagupan from April 16-May 6, 2007.
The summer institute is a trainer’s training course in the Biblical-Pastoral Ministry for those who work in the biblical apostolate. Sixty participants from 13 dioceses all over the Philippines completed the three-week lived-in program.
Started in 1991 by John Paul I Biblical Center, WABI has become a training ground for Lay Ministers to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the Scriptures so essential in the biblical-pastoral ministry they are involved in.
Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) executive secretary, Fr. Oscar Alunday, SVD, said the summer institute was started as a fruit of a regional discernment concerning the pastoral-biblical needs of Luzon and the Cordillera regions.
The idea of a biblical summer institute sprung out of a four-month biblical course which Alunday participated in at Nemi, Rome. The participants then were challenged to implement in a local setting what they have learned and experienced in the course.
When Alunday took over the directorship of JPIBC in 1991 he integrated his learning experience at Nemi with the thrust of JPIBC, which is an ongoing formation for lay and pastoral leaders of Northern Philippines.
Although it was originally established to cater to the needs of the dioceses in Northern Philippines, WABI has now broadened its services to other dioceses outside Northern Luzon. Participants come as far as Guam, Davao, nearby Manila and Bulacan.
Initially taught in Ilocano, the medium of instruction was later changed into English and Tagalog to oblige other students coming from various parts of the country.
“We shifted to English and Tagalog to accommodate people from other regions of the Philippines. The course is open to anyone who wants to work with the biblical apostolate,” said Alunday.
Alunday explained that WABI has a standing agreement with the Divine Word College of Vigan to accredit the course as BA in Religious Education. The course has three levels with beginners starting at Level 1. For three weeks during summer, students live, study and experience together the richness of the word of God. WABI requires its students to go back to their respective dioceses to serve their communities after their summer course. They can only proceed to the next level until they graduate if their parish priest and community recommend them.
“It is part of the requirements of WABI that the animators should live in the community and recommended by the community. They are the servants of the community,” Alunday explained. “If he/she deserves it, he/she is installed officially by the bishop as [Lay Minister] in the parish and part of the diocese,” added Alunday.
The bible animators are installed in a rite within the mass. Once they are installed, the lay ministers make up the core team of the biblical apostolate of the diocese.
The bible core team is ideally composed of five people headed either by a priest or a nun. Two young people and two adults comprise the members.
Alunday said it is important to have young people in the team since they can reach out to the youth and can teach songs to older people in the community.
Although he is no longer a part of JPIBC, Alunday continues to avail his services to WABI by providing updates on national and world events concerning biblical apostolate.
The biblical apostolate is a member of the Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF) through the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Alunday explained that CBCP is the only full member of the Catholic Biblical Federation. Other biblical centers in the Philippines are associate members, like Paul VI of Mindanao and JPIBC. CBF members meet every 7 years. The Philippines is represented by the Chairman and Executive secretary of ECBA.
Alunday expressed satisfaction on the services WABI has rendered to the dioceses in its 16 years of existence. Musing on the difficulties they encountered in the beginning, Alunday cannot help but voice out his surprise on how positively WABI is doing now. He recalled how difficult it was for them to get professors to teach in the institute. Now getting professors to teach seems like a breeze.
“Can you imagine five doctors for a three-week institute, with their own field [of expertise]? Liturgy, bible, religious education…,” Alunday rattled off.
The institute accepts around 30 to 50 regular students every summer. They pay their board and lodging for a three-week stay.
Alunday said living together gives the participants an experience of community life and the ability to work as a team.
WABI aims to form Lay Ministers of the Word who live by the word as a family man and can contribute in creating a new way of being Church through basic ecclesial communities centered on the word of God.
Alunday hopes that through WABI similar institutes in local churches will be strengthened to provide biblical formation to people hungry on the word of God. He is confident dioceses will give priority to forming people for the biblical-pastoral ministry. He said it is important that people are fired up by the word of God, because this is what will remain in them and eventually passed on to the next generation of leaders.
WABI is an experience, Alunday opined. It is making “the Word alive in people’s lives and hearts.”
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