The history of the CICM mission in Ifugao Northern Luzon, Philippine,1910-1960

• Main Author: Wangiwang, Julius B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1998
• Subjects: Evangelistic work; Religious awakening > Christianity; Missions; Congregational churches; Christian sects; Ifugao (Philippine people); Belief and doubt; Catholic Studies; Christian Denominations and Sects; Religious Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/795
• Institution: De La Salle University

This is a historical study that documents the development of the CICM Mission in Ifugao from 1910 to 1960.The study uses documentary analysis in the examination of records and documents. The theoretical framework evolved from a combination of models that describe the stages of growth and development of companies and missions. The framework used considers that a mission goes through different stages: foundation, expansion, and the established stage.Main sources come from materials at the CICM Archives and manuscripts from special collections. Surviving documents and numerical records from different parishes and schools founded by the CICM Missionaries in Ifugao are also utilized. Major secondary sources come from journal publications about the CICM Missions.The findings reveal that the history of the CICM Mission in Ifugao, which started in 1910, followed five stages. These are the foundation stage, expansion stage, dying stage, rebuilding stage, and transformation stage. From the very start of the CICM Mission in Ifugao, the lack of missionary personnel was a perennial problem. The ingenuity of the missionaries was challenged by the problem of funding, especially after the Second World War, but this did not prevent the missionaries from building chapels, schools, dormitories and convents that facilitated easier evangelization of the natives. The deep-rooted tribal religion of the Ifugaos also made it difficult for the missionaries to introduce the Gospel. The missionaries employed several strategies in the process of evangelizing the Ifugaos. Right from the start, the missionaries believed that proclaiming the Gospel among the Ifugaos could be easily facilitated through education, constant contact with the natives, training and employment of catechists, other pastoral activities, and the missionaries' own lifeways that best emulated the love of Christ. The practice of inculturation or indigenization was partly actualized by the CICM Missionaries long before it was mentioned by the Second Vatican Council. The CICM Missionaries respected the Ifugao way of life, customs and traditions. They tried to purify those that were detrimental to the life of the natives, and affirmed values that contributed to the well-being of the Ifugaos.After fifty years of CICM mission work in Ifugao, four independent mission stations were put up: the Kiangan Mission, Lagawe Mission, Banaue Mission, and Mayoyao Mission. All four mission stations had schools and dormitories.