The University of Santo Tomas joined the worldwide commemoration of Red Wednesday on November 24, 2021. The Holy Mass, presided over by UST Senior High School Regent Fr. Ermito de Sagon, O.P., at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church (UST Chapel), was also livestreamed for public viewing through the respective official Facebook pages of the Parish and the University.
The facades of several of the University’s structures were lit red for this observance, including the Main Building, the Santísimo Rosario Parish Church, the Arch of the Centuries, the UST Hospital, and the Bl. Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building.
Red Wednesday is an annual Church event initiated by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a papal charity for persecuted Christians. For this year, its theme was “Red without fear: A Church journeying as one.” The 2021 commemoration blends the observance of two recent events within the Catholic community, the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines and the preparation toward the Synod of Bishops in 2023.
Fr. De Sagon, in his homily, urged the community to “Remember to pray for those who are suffering for the sake of Christ. If ever we suffer, we ask God for His patience, for His enlightenment, [for us to] accept whatever happens because this is part and parcel of our life as Christians.”
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) institutionalized in January 2020 the annual observance of Red Wednesday in all Catholic churches and institutions in the Philippines.
