{"id":9431,"date":"2011-11-07T16:30:59","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T21:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=9431"},"modified":"2011-12-30T09:00:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-30T14:00:55","slug":"9431","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/11\/9431","title":{"rendered":"Philippine priest lights a candle in the darkness … and adds smoked fish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you were with us, all you did was to cause me and our children pain,” reads the letter from a Philippine inmate’s wife. “We always fought whenever you asked for money to support your vices. But now, you no longer drink and instead, send money for the family. The Lord is so kind. It\u2019s an answered prayer!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Father Dominador Medina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Father Dominador Medina, 69, shares the letter with a chuckle — glad that he’s been able to shine a little light in the darkness. The destitute\u00a0families of 20\u00a0local inmates are all getting unexpected checks this week from Medina’s bright idea.<\/p>\n

He serves St. Peter’s parish in Cavite City, which occupies a hook-shaped peninsula jutting out into Manila Bay. The checks are only for about $70 — that’s $3,000 in Philippine pesos — but will go\u00a0far for families whose children work as street vendors and shoeshine boys, often making as little as $5 a week.<\/p>\n

The money is the profit from a parish project in which\u00a0Medina chose 20 inmates\u00a0at the Cavite City District Jail who agreed to make candles.<\/p>\n

Many of the detainees were incarcerated for selling illegal drugs, says Medina.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inmates were happy because they found something to get busy with and at the same time, earn something out of it,\u201d he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer <\/a><\/em>newspaper.<\/p>\n

Medina’s friend, Marian Navarrete, a theological student, volunteered to teach candle-making to the inmates.<\/p>\n

With a start-up capital of about $80 for the wax, wicks and the glass holders, the return was \u201c200 percent,\u201d says Navarrete. The parish provided the money from donations. He says it’s teaching the inmates a useful skill. The parish is also starting a smoked fish business to employ former candlemakers when they are released from jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid that if they could not find a job immediately,” the priest said, “they might return to selling drugs or stealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elderly\u00a0church members volunteered to\u00a0sell the candles\u00a0to churchgoers after services.<\/p>\n

”\u00a0They also volunteered to go house to house to peddle the candles,\u201d the priest told the Inquirer<\/em>. Now\u00a0the parish is coordinating sales\u00a0with three other parishes in the city.<\/p>\n

He told church members that \u201cwhile we pray hard for them” — the inmates — “we also have to take action to help.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you were with us, all you did was to cause me and our children pain,” reads the letter from a Philippine inmate’s wife. “We always fought whenever you asked for money to support your vices. But now, you no longer drink and instead, send money for the family. The Lord is so kind. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,32],"tags":[1814,2206,2204],"class_list":["post-9431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-christian","tag-candle-making","tag-catholic","tag-christian"],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippine priest lights a candle in the darkness ... and adds smoked fish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/11\/9431\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippine priest lights a candle in the darkness ... and adds smoked fish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhen you were with us, all you did was to cause me and our children pain,” reads the letter from a Philippine inmate’s wife. “We always fought whenever you asked for money to support your vices. 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