Tomorrow, December 24, National Broadcasting Network-4, the official television channel of the Philippine national government, will broadcast a Traditional Missa Cantata from St. Jerome Emiliani Parish in the Diocese of Paranaque, Metro Manila. The broadcast will begin at 10:30 PM (2:30 PM GMT) with carols and short videos of priests explaining what the Traditional Latin Mass is. The Mass itself will start at 11:00 P.M. (3:00 PM GMT). Fr. Grato Germanetto, an Italian Somascan priest, will offer this Mass.
The significance of this event lies in the fact that the government's own television channel has chosen to televise this, and not the usual charismatic Mass. Moreover, this channel will be watched nationwide and will be available to all, not just to cable TV subscribers. It is our hope that this televised Mass will alert Filipino Catholics -- who number some 72+ million -- to the fact that the Traditional Latin Mass is alive and well, thus fueling a greater demand for its celebration in parishes nationwide.
