APARRI, Cagayan – The Archdiocese of Tuguegarao is aligning pastoral structures across its 50 parishes as it moves into the second year of its five-year Missionary Conversion Path (MCP), which seeks to build a more synodal Church.
In his keynote address, at the archdiocese-wide Pastoral Conference on October 5-6 at the Lyceum of Aparri, Archbishop Ricardo Baccay said the first year has given parishes opportunities to listen more closely to the faithful through parish orientations and household profiling. Early this year, each parish was tasked with surveying every Catholic household to better understand families’ socioeconomic circumstances, challenges, and pastoral needs.
These listening activities, Baccay said, surfaced people’s desire to participate more meaningfully in the Church’s mission, not merely as spectators or donors, but as partners who share responsibility for its work. The challenge now is to form communities capable of working together in a more synodal way.
Restructuring for mission
The proposed pastoral structure, presented for discussion during the conference, builds on the First Archdiocesan Pastoral Assembly (FAPA), held in 1995, whose acts and resolutions were promulgated in 1996. Its pastoral direction calls for a community of disciples and a Church of the poor, with lay participation, formation, social action, and responsible stewardship at the heart of the Church’s mission.
The revised organizational framework maps pastoral responsibilities and relationships at the archdiocesan, vicariate, and parish levels. It seeks to clarify how Church leaders and pastoral bodies exercise their responsibilities, coordinate their work, and collaborate in carrying out the archdiocese’s common direction.
At the parish level, the framework brings together parish priests, pastoral and finance councils, barangay pastoral councils, Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), and ministry leaders in a more coordinated process. BECs at the purok are identified as the geographical locus of implementation, where the archdiocese’s pastoral direction takes concrete form in community life, evangelization, and service.
The proposed structure also introduces Parish Missionary Companions to animate and accompany these bodies in listening, discernment, planning, and mission.
Pastoral Director Fr. Manuel Catral said parishes are at different stages of their pastoral life, with varying structures and approaches to lay participation. While many already have pastoral and finance councils, the shared framework aims to bring greater coherence, align ways of working, and enable more parishioners to take an active part in the Church’s mission.
“The challenge now is to make our commitments from FAPA work more clearly and consistently through the Missionary Conversion Path,” Catral said, referring to the 1995 assembly’s call to build communities, involve the laity, plan together, and evaluate pastoral work.
Beyond structures, toward conversion
The MCP reflects the wider renewal of the Catholic Church, where synodality has become a central direction under Pope Francis and continues under Pope Leo XIV. Following the 2021–2024 Synod on Synodality, local Churches are called to put communion, participation, and shared responsibility for mission into practice. The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences has likewise called for synodal conversion and a more missionary Church.
Other conference sessions included a presentation of the archdiocese’s new website and discussions on a decree on financial reform, including clergy compensation and benefits. Fr. Ferdinand Maguigad, Assistant Vicar for Clergy Formation, also discussed exploring Cagayan’s pilgrim tradition as a possible cultural grounding for the MCP pastoral vision.
The MCP’s five-year progression moves from listening and alignment in Year 1 to formation in Year 2, stronger communion and co-responsibility in Year 3, a more outward-looking missionary Church in Year 4, and the evaluation and strengthening of good practices in Year 5.
As the archdiocese enters the formation phase in Year 2, Baccay reminded the clergy that a more synodal Church requires their own conversion.
“Please, you do not have to do this alone. If you insist on doing things alone, you are not really in the path of conversion,” he said.