Place: St. James the Great Parish (Bolinao, Pangasinan)
Date: 11 July 2008

From the beach house, I knew we would take two trips back to the Picucubuan Port again, so I already told mom I would take the first batch out of the beach house and I will ask to be dropped off at the church and I will just wait there for the second batch going to the port. Mom talked to Uncle Pete about it, and I was so happy that Uncle Pete agreed to what I wanted. I wasn’t able to check the Cape Bolinao Light House, so this one I should never miss.

The last time I was in Bolinao (November 2007), my brother was able to take pictures of the church, but his time was so short that he was only able to take pictures of the facade and the altar. Actually, his altar shot wasn’t really that good, so when he found out mom and I will be have a vacation in Bolinao, he really asked me to go to the church and take pictures of it. Actually, I have also planned to check it out, too, because I honestly still hasn’t set foot inside this church, and I have been to Bolinao countless times!

The first thing I looked for was a brief historical background. Normally, tourist spots have these concrete block with a little historical background of the church, but there’s nothing like that there, so I went to the office to ask if they have any leaflet or anything where I could get the history. They said they already ran out of the leaflets, so I will just have to check the net for this. =)

According to two sites I have checked, It is where the Italian priest by the name of the Father Odoric who was a member of Franciscan friars, held his first mass in the Philippines after landing in Bolinao in 1324. In 1585, Father Esteban Marinas, the first Augustinian priest, started the evangelization of the town. In 1607, a Roman Catholic Church was built. This Hispanic church building still remains intact and is presently considered as one of the oldest churches in the Philippines.

Some pictures I took in the church:

*** Well, my cousin Gerry took this picture. Hahahaha ***

*** The look inside the church. ***

*** The altar up-close. ***

*** The pulpit. The most interesting pulpit I’ve seen. Most I have seen has stairs directly leading to the pulpit, but this one has a gate. Hmmm… ***

*** The adoration chapel. ***

Very simple church, but very full of culture. I just hope that the admin would take into consideration beautifying the church because although I love how it looked, they could still make it more beautiful. This is one of the oldest church in the Philippines, and people in Bolinao should take pride in it. Imagine, there were no drastic changes in this church - this is how it looked when the construction was finished, and not all colonial churches are like that! But I love the facade. I loved how the concrete stones look like!

Hopefully, next time I could see some information by the church so tourists can also learn things about the church. Bolinao is one great town. It is slowly becoming a tourist spot, and I know in time the place will flourish as well.

*** Jenn ***

Sources for the little historical background: Diocese of Alaminos and Bolinao Texas