Country Philippines Founded 1958 | Denomination Roman Catholic | |
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Location Silangan Road, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Los Baños, Laguna Dedication St. Therese of the Child Jesus Status Diocesan Shrine and Parish church | ||
The Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, also referred to as the unofficial UPLB Chapel is one of the three Roman catholic churches in the municipality of Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. It is located along Silangan Road inside the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus. The current parish priest is Father Luis A. Tolentino. The church is designated as the Diocesan Shrine of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo on October 1, 2016.
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Church history
The devotion to St. Therese of the Child Jesus started in the mid-1920s due to students and professors of the university. Upon petitioning church authorities to build a chapel outside the university's perimeter fence, a chapel was built in honor of St. Therese in 1927 with a seating capacity of 120 people. Since then, it became the unofficial university chapel. The parish was officially established under the Archdiocese of Lipa in 1958. It serves the spiritual needs of the former parishioners of the Immaculate Conception Parish living around the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture and College of Forestry. The first parish priest was Father John Hurley. Due to lack of priests, the parish was administered by priests from the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) for 33 years. The present church with a seating capacity of 1,500 was built and blessed in 1971. In 2000, the secular priests took charge of the parish with Monsignor Bernardino Cortez and Father Gabriel Ma. Delfino as parish priest and assistant parish priest respectively. When Monsignor Cortez was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, Monsignor James Contreras succeeded as parish priest. From 2008 to 2013, the church was administered by Father Jose Thor R. Villacarlos. Currently, the parish is under the pastoral care of Father Luis A. Tolentino.
In 2013, the relics of St. Thérèse visited the UPLB community as part of its world pilgrimage. The parish church was elevated to a diocesan shrine on October 1, 2016.
Facilities
Most of the church facilities and adjacent church structures was constructed under the Foundation of St. Therese Parish, Inc. (FSTPI) which caters the material needs of the church. It includes: