History

August 21, 2013
HISTORY OF THE BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS 

The Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas (BEF), the official interdiocesan bulletin of the Philippines, was  established in response to a need. In the early twenties, the Apostolic Delegate of His Holiness to the Philippines made an appeal to each local ordinary to work toward the establishment of a national bulletin for the clergy upon realizing the fact that many priests in the country did not immediately get the chance to read the Pope’s encyclical letters, as well as other important documents from Rome. When this publication became a reality, the first editors considered “rendering a detailed account of Papal documents and of the decisions and decrees of the Roman Congregations” as the “principal and most important function of the Review.” 

The Boletin had some precedents in the Philippines. In 1876, the Archbishop of Manila Msgr. Payo started the publication of Boletin Eclesiastico de Arzobispado de Manila. In 1892, this became the Boletin Official de Arzobispado de Manila. But this publication disappeared when Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines ended. 

When Msgr. Guglielmo Piani became Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See in the Philippines, he noted the absence of an official ecclesiastical bulletin and brought this matter to the attention of the bishops. On April 23, 1923, the basic guidelines for the official bulletin were circularized. The bishops asked the University of Santo Tomas to take charge of the publication. Since its initial issue dated June 1, 1923, the Boletin has served as the mouthpiece of dioceses in the Philippines. The publication was endorsed by Most Rev. M. J. O’Doherty, then Archbishop of Manila. Fr. Francisco Cubeñas, O.P., then Director of UST Seminary was appointed its first editor. He held the office until he died in September 1929. From the beginning, the principal contributors to the publication were the professors of the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University. There were also contributions from the other faculties and even from writers not connected with the University. 

After Fr. Cubeñas until today, all the editors have been Dominican priests. The following were editors before the war: Fr. Alberto Sta. Maria (September 1928 - December 1933); Fr. Tomas Tascon (January 1934 - May 1936); Fr. Emiliano Serrano (June 1936 - December 1941). The war stopped the Boletin’s publication from December 1941 to January 1946. After the war, it became a bi-monthly publication under the editorship of Fr. Agapio Salvador who held the office from January 1946 to April 1947. In May 1947, Fr. Juan Ortega was appointed editor. He worked until December 1956. 

In January 1948, the Boletin reverted to its monthly publication. In January 1957, Fr. Jesus Merino became the editor and with him the monthly editorial became a regular feature of the Boletin. He remained in office until December 1960. Fr. Excelso Garcia, presently the Director of the UST Printing Office served the office from January 1961 to December 1967. 

Prior to 1960, the Boletin was published in Spanish except the official Church documents which were published in English for the benefit of foreign English speaking members of the clergy. In January 1962, its medium of communication shifted from Spanish to English. 

The following had been editors of the Boletin: Fr. Quintin Garcia (1967); Fr. Leonardo Legaspi (January 1968 - December, 1969); Fr. Jose Ma. Tinoko (January, 1970 - February, 1971); Fr. Jaime Boquiren (March 1971 - December 1972); Fr. Pompeyo de Mesa (January 1973 - February 1974); Fr. Efren Rivera (March 1974 - February 1983); Fr. Vicente Cajilig (March 1983 - June 1991 and July 1995 to present); Fr. Roman Carter (July 1991 - June 1993); Fr. Honorato Castigador (July 1993 - June 1995). 

Entered as second class mail matter at the Manila Post Office on June 21, 1946 and printed at the UST Press, Manila, the Boletin is published bi-monthly by the University of Santo Tomas. It contains an editorial, documentation, canon law, liturgy, features, cases and inquiries, history and homiletics. Two “sections” of the Boletin Eclesiastico were the most welcome of each issue: the “Casos Y consultos” – cases and consultations – in which questions sent by readers were answered by experts, and the “cronica” – chronicle – which followed up the events of relevance for the Church here and abroad. 

Aside from being instrumental as unifying strength of the local church, the Boletin was also envisioned to fill up a vacuum caused by the lack of “an ecclesiastical review dedicated exclusively to help the priests in their pastoral work among the people.” Moreover, this publication has served other purposes as: 

1) to stimulate the clergy to study not only ecclesiastical sciences but also other fields of study contributory to the formation of an upright and righteous man; 


2) to incite and develop in the clergy the habit of pursuing a continuous education; and 


3) to offer possible solutions to problems encountered by a parish priest, be these problems religious, educational, social, political or agrarian in nature. 

For 90 years since its publication, there have been attempts to dislodge the Boletin, being the only ecclesiastical publication in the Philippines. There are, of course other publications equated with the Boletin because of related functions. Among them are: The Sentinel, a weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Manila; Filipinas, a successor to the Sentinel; Philippine Priests’ Forum, a publication of the Philippine Priests, Inc.; and the most recent CBCP Monitor, a publication of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. 

The present staff of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas are as follows: 

EDITOR - Fr. Louie R. Coronel, O.P.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR - Joel C. Sagut
BUSINESS MANAGER - Fr. Manuel F. Roux, O.P.
PUBLICATION ASSISTANTS - Angelita R. Guinto
                                                      - Arnold S. Manalastas

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