Tag: July 30, 2012

THE ASSISTANT director for campus ministry of the University has been tapped by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Youth (CBCP-EYC) to help translate the Bible in the language of the youth.

UST’s Richard Pazcoguin, Clarizza Sagmit and Llen Hugh Tadeo of Cubao diocese, and Del Cabanog of the Parañaque diocese were endorsed by CBCP-EYC to complete the “Pinoy version” project of the Philippine Bible Society (PBS).

“PBS believes that translating the Word of God into the language that young people understand will create more attention and will attract the youths to read it. They will understand the meaning that their minds have the capacity to comprehend,” said Fr. Conegondo Garganta, executive secretary of the CBCP- EYC.

Is Hollywood giving moviegoers an accurate portrayal of Christ?

A Canadian academic believes Hollywood—with its obsession for commercial success— has altered Jesus Christ’s story, particularly in relation to Judaism.

In a lecture titled “Jesus and Judaism in the Jesus Film Genre” at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex last July 16, Prof. Adele Reinhartz said viewers are getting a vastly different image of Christ on film.

“Since the beginning of cinema in the late 19th century, the life of Jesus was a favorite subject of the filmmakers around the world,” said Reinhartz, who is teaching in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa.

GRAND productions by the Cultural Center of the Philippines of the classic operas—Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville—attempted to revive interest in the classic musical form and featured key Thomasian performers.

Puccini’s tragic opera was slated June 22 to 23, while Rossini’s comedy was staged July 13 to 14, both at the CCP Main Theater.

TWO NOTABLE entries in the 8th Cinemalaya festival of independent movies tackled the uncinematic subject of loneliness: one from the point of view of an old man who has come out quite late in life and tries to alleviate the oppressive loneliness of his late years by dotting on a stray mongrel he has saved from the streets; and another from the vantage point of soldiers stationed on the Kalayaan islands off Palawan in the Spratlys, the group of islands in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea which has become a flashpoint between several countries which are laying claim to it.

The exhibit, Recollection 1081: Clear and Present Danger (Visual Dissent on Martial Rule), features works by 30 visual and literary artists focusing on martial law and its horrors. The show is being mounted to mark the 40th anniversary this year of the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972.

The exhibit is running at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Bulwagang Juan Luna and Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino until September 30.

Martial law remains an inexhaustible mine for artists. “The dictatorship fuelled the creative expression of artists, and they sought to expose the political, cultural and social situation under it,” said CCP Chair Emily Abrera during the opening of the exhibit last July 14.

UNTRIED, untested, and unstaged, but tackling risky topics that people do not dare talk about.

These words best describe the nine one-act plays written by both aspiring and veteran playwrights in the eighth Virgin Labfest at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Studio Theater, June 27 to July 8.

Em Mendez, who studied BS Psychology in UST, and Chuckberry Pascual presented their one-act plays titled Ang Unang Regla ni John and Alejandro, respectively. Both plays tackled homosexuality.

FOLK Catholic practices are highlighted in Veejay Villafranca’s photography exhibit, Faith Above Fate, which ran at the JIV Manila Art Gallery in Quezon City from June 30 to July 20.

The exhibit consisted of digital photos mounted on small light boxes that documented Villafranca’s travels across the Philippines. His photos focused on Filipino religious practices and the phenomenon of faith healing.

A cluster of photos, “A Show of Devotion: Feast of the Black Nazarene,” documented the Black Nazarene devotion of Quiapo, Manila, showing the deep dedication of Filipinos from all walks of life who endure the heat and the oppressive crowd just to have a moment’s touch with the famous Catholic icon.