TWO CATHOLIC CHAPELS and an Unfinished Church

Unknown to many, Sagada has two Catholic Chapels, and a major Church waiting to be finished.

1) KILONG
Along the major road, after km 5 - marker, in baranggay Antadao, you will meet a junction in front of a dilapidated waiting shed. The road to the right leads to baranggay Kilong. There is an existing Catholic Church there, some 400 meters down from the junction, that has been there since 1949 - believe it or not! It used to be an outstation of the Catholic parish in Bontoc, but now is a separate parish (well, the term used is Mission Station) on its own. It's patron saint is St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church.
Sunday Mass Shedule: 8:30 am

2) AGUID
Have you gone to Bumud-ok, the giant falls? At the junction in baranggay Nangonogan, before the gas station by the rock boulder and the Sagada Weaving, there is a road that splits to the right and on to the East. Yes, this is the road leading to the small falls too. At the very end of this road, your car can only go as far as the covered basketball court in baranggay Aguid, where people going to Bumud-ok park their car and start hiking down.
Surely you will not miss the small "sari-sari" store of our deceased Manang Kathryn Kibatay, a very kind and amiable soul. She also donated the lot where the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes (the next building up with G.I. sheet walls) is standing.
Sunday Mass Schedule: 11:00 am

3) NANGONOGAN
Just 50m before the junction mentioned in 2) above, and after the signage that says "MAPIYA-AW Lodge," an unfinished building structure can be seen (well, if you look down, but not from the eyelevel of somebody on the road) on the right side. It is a Catholic Church to be dedicated to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The dilapidating signboard says that there is a mass at 4:30pm. It is not always possible, especially during rainy season.
So, your group should contact the Parish Priest and request for a mass right there in the construction site, or somewhere more feasible. If the priest is not too busy, he gladly comes to celebrate mass with any Catholic group.
Sunday Mass Schedule: by appointment (4:30 pm, non-rainy season)

Getting to SAGADA from MANILA

There are two ways of going to Sagada from Manila:

A) Via Banaue (Ifugao)
This route takes the Sta. Rita Exit at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) through Bulacan; Cabanatuan and San Jose, Nueva Ecija; then up the Dalton Pass, then down Sta. Fe and through most towns of Nueva Vizcaya.
In Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya, the highway forks into two: the right one goes to Isabela and Cagayan Valley; the left road goes to Ifugao, passes through Banaue then Bontoc, Mountain Province. From Bontoc, it is about 8 km or some 30 minutes away.
There is only one direct trip from Manila to Bontoc via CABLE TOURS. It leaves the terminal (open parking space between St. Lukes Hospital and Trinity University in Quezon City) at 8:30pm nightly and reaches Bontoc at around 830am. In Bontoc, a jeepney going to Sagada leaves every hour until 3pm.

B) Via Baguio City
This route goes to La Trinidad and through Halsema Highway passing through most towns of Benguet; then crosses the Mt Province border through Bauko, Sabangan, then Bontoc. However, for those in private vehicles heading straight to Sagada without passing by Bontoc Poblacion, take the left road in Dantay junction. Such road goes up to Sagada. The right road goes to Poblacion, Bontoc along the Chico River.
In any of the several bus terminals in Manila, it is best to take a bus bound to Baguio after 11:00pm. It will reach Baguio by around 5:00am. Right at that moment, the first trip of Rising Sun bound to Bontoc leaves Baguio (Slaughterhouse). At the Dangwa Terminal (Centermall), the first trip of GL Liner bound to Sagada leaves at 6:00am.

Difference between Anglican and Roman Catholic?

1. The Roman Catholic Church respects the authority of the Roman Pontiff (Pope) as its Universal Shepherd. Although each diocese, headed by its Bishop, is a local Church in itself, there is unity and special bond with the diocese of Rome, whose Bishop – the Pope – the successor to Peter, is the collegial head by virtue of his seniority and special place among the Apostles. Meanwhile, each Anglican church belongs to the Anglican Communion because it is in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and seeks to uphold the reformed order inherited from the Church of England. Yet each one is independent. The Archbishop has no legal authority outside of the Diocese of Canterbury. He serves as spiritual leader and symbol of unity.
2. The priests in the Roman Catholic Church uphold celibacy. Upon ordination, they promise not to get married. The priests in the Anglican Church are allowed to get married and have children.
3. The Roman Catholic Church rules out women ordination. Some Anglican Churches allow women-priests and women-bishops.
4. The Roman Catholic Church believes in the “real presence” (transubstantiation) in the Eucharist. That is why they are strict to refuse intercommunion or administering communion to those whose faith is different from them. The Anglican churches see no problem in intercommunion. They believe that the bread they receive is a symbol of Christ's body (transymbolisation / transignification).
These are some of the major differences.

Dap-ay

Although the word dap-ay is used to refer to an open meeting place made of stone slabs where a bonfire is usually set at its center, it also refers to the group of elders who serve as the governing body in the community, pre-existing any modern-day form of government. In the dap-ay rest legislative and judicial powers. As a socio-political unit, the dap-ay gathers to settle disputes, resolve conflicts, issue laws and customary conducts binding the community and makes decisions involving the lives of the people in it. It was the dap-ay that served as the primary teacher of good citizenship prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries who educated the mountain people. As a cultural center, the dap-ay is the seat of rituals. From it emanates the cultural attitude of inayan, a guiding belief of not doing harm to anybody, lest harm shall befall on himself or his/her family members. Most festivities and rituals are done around the dap-ay, which also stands as the symbol of prosperity and merrymaking.

Christianization of SAGADA

(Shown in this picture on the left is the St. Mary's EPISCOPAL Church otherwise known as the ANGLICAN CHURCH in Poblacion, Sagada)

Early Settlement
About 300 years ago, some Kankanaey folks from the old Lepanto came and settled in Sagada. Biag, an Igorot folklore hero, takes a special role in the founding of Sagada. He organized the people into small kinship communities, introduced rites and prayers to the spirits for which they sacrificed animals. The dap-ay, a special meeting place for the elders, played a significant role in the socio-political and cultural life of these Sagada Igorots.

Through their trading with the Ilocanos in the Western coastlands, the early Igorots of Sagada were introduced to the use of salt, iron, some African and Asian beads, brass gongs and wine jars brought by Chinese traders.

Spanish Period
The fierceness of the Igorots made it difficult for the Spanish colonizers to have an influence on them. Much later in 1892, a Spanish garrison was established in Bontoc which had a minimum presence in Sagada. Just a little later, the Spaniards moved this garrison away to Cervantes. The Catholic missionaries had begun “civilizing” and baptizing local people. But this was short lived when soon the war against the Spanish regime broke out in 1896, followed by that of the Spanish American Revolution in 1898.

American Period
The US forces were stronger than the Filipino resistance. The end of the 19th century saw the rise of American colonialism. Mountain Province was established in 1901 which included Benguet, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao which are now all independent provinces.

In 1904, the American John Staunton, an engineer turned Anglican Priest, established the Mission of St. Mary the Virgin in Sagada. His dynamism and vision attempted to make Sagada a center of commerce and Christianity. But due to some internal disputes with the American Episcopal Church, Staunton was forced to leave the Philippines in 1925. Later he would be incorporated to the Roman Catholic Church in 1930, and ordained a Catholic Priest in 1933.

Meanwhile, the Belgian CICM (Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) missionaries, Frs. Jurgens and Sepulchre, had also arrived in Bontoc in 1907, then proceeded to Bauko. They had established their Catholic Missions in those places leaving Sagada (with the exception of baranggay Kilong which had been an outstation mission under Bontoc) in the good hands of the Episcopal Church.

World War II and After
Sagada was not spared of the heavy damages of the Second World War. Many structures including the St. Mary's Church, built in 1921, were destroyed. In 1942, the Japanese came to Sagada and imprisoned the remaining Americans. After Gen. Yamashita's surrender in 1945, the American teachers and missionaries returned to Sagada and the influence of the Episcopal Church continued.

Today, under the Filipino Episcopal priests, Sagada is still widely Anglican Christian. The Catholic Church has its presence though in two baranggays, namely Kilong (St. Joseph Catholic Church) and Aguid (Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Chapel) both are under the Sagada Catholic Mission based in Kilong, Sagada.