BEACHES AND CHURCHES: THE CHURCHES OF NUEVA ECIJA: Part One: DIOCESE OF CABANATUAN

The province of Nueva Ecija is composed of 27 municipalities and 5 cities divided into four congressional districts. Ecclesiastically, Nueva Ecija is divided into two dioceses, the Diocese of Cabanatuan and the Diocese of San Jose. The Diocese of Cabanatuan comprises of 16 towns of the southern part of the province and the cities of Cabanatuan, Gapan and Palayan which are part of the third and fourth congressional districts including Talavera and Zaragoza from the first district. The Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija comprises of the city of San Jose and the Science City of Muñoz and 12 other municipalities in Northern Nueva Ecija which are the first and second congressional districts.

During the Holy Week of 2018 I decided to visit the main parish churches of the towns of the province. I was able to visit all of the towns and cities comprising the Diocese of Cabanatuan which will be featured in this post. I will display them in the order that I visited them except that of the Cathedral of Cabanatuan which I will place at the end.
Part two will show the churches of the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija.

ST. JOHN NEPOMUCENE PARISH

Cabiao, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1847

ST. ISIDORE THE WORKER PARISH

San Isidro, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1843

ST. ANTHONY ABBOT PARISH

San Antonio, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1843

A Pabasa broadcasted over the loud speakers of the church was ongoing when we visited the Church of San Antonio.

ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH

Jaen, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1868

Distinctive of the Church of Jaen was the huge relief of St. Augustine at the main altar with four niches of saints at its sides.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW PARISH

San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1896

ST. ROSE OF LIMA PARISH

Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1879

HOLY CROSS PARISH

General Tinio, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1935

A Pabasa was also being sang at the church of General Tinio when we visited it.

Minalungao National Park, General Tinio, Nueva Ecija

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI PARISH

Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1853

THREE KINGS PARISH

Gapan City, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1595

The statues of the Three Kings were in front of a side altar retablo with the statues of the Holy Family encased in glass in a niche behind them.

ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO PARISH

San Nicolas, Gapan City, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1971

OUR LADY OF FATIMA PARISH

Gen. Mamerto Natividad, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1964

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI PARISH

Bongabon, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1760

Bas reliefs on the life of St. Francis of Assisi at the doors of the Church. The relief above depicts St. Francis returning his clothes to his father.

ST. STEPHEN THE KING PARISH

Laur, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1938

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE PARISH

Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1964

What interested me most in my visit to Gabaldon was hearing of a one of a kind Good Friday tradition of Gabaldon together with the next town Dingalan of the province of Aurora called the Gabalding Encounter. The parishioners from these two towns of different provinces and dioceses would go on a procession doing the Stations of the Cross and meet halfway in the mountain just near the welcome marker of Dingalan. They would start the procession at seven in the morning and on the hilly spot where they would meet, the two parishes would hold the Good Friday commemoration of the death of our Lord. I was told that thousands would attend the yearly event which started in 1975. Fr. Benjie at the Bahay Pari who was a former parish priest of Gabaldon, in fact invited me to join them. Had I known it earlier and had not set already another schedule that day, I would have joined them.

ST. CECILIA PARISH

Palayan City, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1976

The view of the church of Palayan from the main highway. It was a huge church which was still unfinished but already being used.

NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LAS SALERAS PARISH

Aliaga, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1849

For Holy Thursday, I had planned that I will celebrate it in Aliaga, the parish priest of whom was my contemporary in UST. I asked the priest at the Bahay Pari to give me his contact number. Receiving no reply, I just presumed that the mass will be at five which is the usual time for the Commemoration of Our Lord’s Supper. Since we still had other churches to visit that day, it was already 4:30pm when we arrived in Aliaga. When we alighted from the car I could hear somebody preaching. I thought there was just a holy hour before the mass, only to find out that the priest was already giving the homily. When I looked at the schedule posted at the front of the church, it said mass was at four in the afternoon. After taking some pictures, I decided that we go back to Quezon which we just visited and which already belonged to the Diocese of San Jose where I hope I could still catch the five pm mass. We were just lucky to be on time. After the mass and supper in Quezon we passed by Aliaga again to see the parish priest, Fr. Robert who showed us the church and its premises. He already had a different number when I told him about my text.

Altar of the Aliaga parish church taken on June 3, 2023.

Picture taken on June 3, 2023. There is already a covered walk leading towards the church.

ST. ISIDORE THEWORKER PARISH

Talavera, Nueva Ecija

Founded: 1846

I concelebrated the Good Friday Commemoration of the Passion of the Lord in Talavera as I had heard that the parish has a tradition of Good Friday procession with several carrozas. There were at least 60 carrozas depicting the different personalities and events connected to the Passion and death of Christ.