Without a Cathedral, Marawi’s Catholics Hold On to Their Faith Nine Years After the Siege

MARAWI CITY, BARMM — Nine years after government forces liberated Marawi from Islamic State-aligned militants, the city’s small Catholic community is still standing, even though its cathedral lies in ruins and regular Sunday Mass is hard to come by.

Devotees now worship wherever they can, carrying memories of the destroyed St. Mary’s Cathedral and hoping their community will one day be as lively as it once was.

Fransbert Tokong, 30, a former presiding officer of the Catholic Student Organization at the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel of Mindanao State University (MSU)-Marawi, said he misses attending Mass at the cathedral but that his faith has not wavered. For him, the loss goes beyond a building. The cathedral was where Catholics gathered to pray, build relationships and feel they belonged.

The cathedral was one of the casualties of the five-month Marawi siege, which began on May 23, 2017, after a military operation targeting Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Even before the siege, Catholics at MSU-Marawi made do with limited facilities. Diovelene Francisco, 29, who was a fourth-year biology student when the fighting broke out, recalled that Sunday Mass was held in the gymnasium or on the golf course because the chapel was too small. The war broke up the routine that held the community together.

Today, priests and places of worship remain scarce. Army Private First Class Mary Jean Navalta, who was assigned to Marawi in 2024, said the chapel at the Army headquarters in Camp Ranao holds Mass only once a month, depending on whether a priest is available. She described this as the “new normal” for Catholics since the siege. Without regular Mass, believers sustain their faith through prayer, devotion and by keeping religious images tied to their former churches.

With the cathedral destroyed, the Prelature of Marawi has moved to Maria Cristina in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte. A new church and a residence for the bishop are being built there with help from Aid to the Church in Need. Tokong said the prelature’s mission goes beyond rebuilding a church, as it also seeks to be a reconciling presence among its Muslim neighbors.

The community’s endurance is also reflected in the image of María Auxiliadora, or Mary Help of Christians, the prelature’s patroness. According to Tokong, the image was decapitated during the siege but was restored by devotees. It is now being brought to dioceses around the country as a symbol of the community’s resilience. The prelature will mark its 50th anniversary on Nov. 20 at the new church in Maria Cristina.

Francisco said rebuilding the cathedral on its original site in Marawi is a “complicated issue.” She would feel uneasy if it were rebuilt while many displaced Muslim residents have yet to return home, and said restoring the cathedral should go hand in hand with restoring the lives of those who once filled the surrounding neighborhoods.

Data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees shows that about 17,000 families, or roughly 70,000 to 80,000 people, have yet to return to Marawi.

Source: Inquirer.net