St. Andrew Parish

Location: La Huerta, Parañaque

          The miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin known as the Nuestra Señora de Buensuceso or Our Lady of Good Success is considered as the patroness of
Parañaque. The discovery of  the statue came about in 1625. when Fr. Juan de Guevarra, OSA was Parish Priest( he was also the one who enshrined the statue of the Blessed Virgin in Malate called Nuestra Señora de los Remedios).  In 1638, Rev. Fr. Dionisio Suarez, a native of Portugal, started the construction of the new church to replace the temoporary structure that the inherited. He was also named parish priest of Parañaque in 1638.

          After  the revolution and the Spanish-American War, many parishes were left vacant after the Spanish cura parocos (parish priests) were pulled out resulting to a chronic lack of priests during the early1900's. The then Bishop of Manila, Msgr. O'Doherty, tried to supply the parishes with Filipino and secular priest but their number was not enough. This was also due to the schism caused by the establishment of the Philippine Independent Church(Aglipayans), causing many Filipino clergy to leave the Catholic Faith.

          To remedy the problem, Bishop O'Doherty invited American and European religious orders to help out in the evangelization of the Philippines. Answering the call, The Congregation of the Immaculate heart of Mary (CICM) came in 1915 to establish missions in Luzon. Bishop O'Doherty gave them the permission with the condition that some of their parish priest will man parishes in evangelized areas like Manila and adjoining towns. The CICM Superior General obliged, occupying the parochial seats of Immaculada Concepcion in Pasig. San Jose in Las Piñas and San Andres in Parañaque. The first CICM pastor or Parañaque was Rev. Fr. Cornelio de Brouwer.

         At the beginning of 1994, the CICM fathers then turned-over the administration of St. Andrew Parish to the secular priests with Fr. Romerico Prieto as its pastor.

 

 

 

photo via John T Pilot

                                  Old Photo of St. Andrew Church