A 617 m2 cross lights up new Christocentric shrine in Monte Plata

Dolores

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 20, 2019
15,406
2,399
93
Santuario-en-Bayaguana-Diario-Libre.jpg




In their final week in government, President Danilo Medina and Vice President Margarita Cedeño were in Bayaguana, Monte Plata for the inaugural of the Sanctuary of the Christ of the Miracles. This is a Roman Catholic church with a capacity for 2,000 parishioners.



The Bayaguana temple is some 76 km from Santo Domingo. The temple is promoted as the third most important religious pilgrimage site in the country, behind the Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in Higuey and La Vega’s Santo Cerro Church.



Monte Plata is in the center of the country. It has easy road access from Santo Domingo, or the tourism destinations of Punta Cana and La Romana.



The shrine is the result of years’ long effort initially promoted by Monte Plata Senator Charlie Mariotti and aging Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodríguez. Santo Domingo Archbishop Francisco Ozorio continued to push for the...

Continue reading...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Caonabo

LIFE IS GOOD
Sep 27, 2017
7,339
2,949
113
With so many Roman Catholic Christian houses of prayer being destroyed globally by nefarious means, it is encouraging and heart warming to still see them rising up above the evil that permeates this world of ours.

Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them"
 

user123

Active member
Aug 16, 2017
369
238
43
Another member who just simply doesn't understand. I'm assuming you're not Dominican.

I'm sure you're more than willing to post another 100 replies today to explain it to me, but no thanks. PS. You and Caonabo should get a room 😉
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,471
5,902
113
dr1.com
With so many Roman Catholic Christian houses of prayer being destroyed globally by nefarious means, it is encouraging and heart warming to still see them rising up above the evil that permeates this world of ours.

Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them"
My wife is Catholic and has very good friends that are nuns and priests, lifelong friends, and she taught at Don Bosco in Santo Domingo and in Jarabacoa early in her teaching career. The Catholic church doesn't need government money, they pay no taxes and the land is given to them. A lot of hungry people could be feed and a lot of poor children given school supplies with that money. I have no desire to prevent the building of churches but I think the believers should pay, not all taxpayers.
 

Dolores

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 20, 2019
15,406
2,399
93
As reported in DR1 News, Santo Domingo Archbishop Francisco Ozoria was very critical of the Medina administration. Criticism stopped abruptly. The government finished the sanctuary. Ozoria was promoted to general in the hard-to-understand-military-rankings of Roman Catholic priests.
 

Caonabo

LIFE IS GOOD
Sep 27, 2017
7,339
2,949
113
As reported in DR1 News, Santo Domingo Archbishop Francisco Ozoria was very critical of the Medina administration. Criticism stopped abruptly. The government finished the sanctuary. Ozoria was promoted to general in the hard-to-understand-military-rankings of Roman Catholic priests.

The Roman Catholic church does not have generals nor a hard to understand military type ranking structure. As with everything in life where there are questions, their hierarchy is quite easy to understand for those that wish to dedicate some time and gain an understanding of it.
Admitted that this is quite difficult for many in the year 2020. Many, not all.
Yes, there is a structure and hierarchy within, as any system or organization possesses. Just as here, within DR1.

Matthew 7:7–8
"7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened"
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,315
3,122
113
This is the nicest and most impressive church built in the Dominican Republic since Joaquín Balaguer built the Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in Higüey in the 1970's.

Some people say that the government shouldn't build churches, but the Dominican government has the Catholic church as its official religion and the concordat between the Vatican and the DR basically states that the Dominican government builds and maintain every single Catholic church in the Dominican Republic.

There are other tell tale signs that the DR has never been a country where state and religion is separate. For example, the flag of the country has a Christian cross (not the giant white one), a Bible, and mentions God. The country has three fathers of the country and they were a part of the secret society of "La Trinitaria" (The Trinity) based on the holy trinity of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The government has built many monuments, mainly in Santo Domingo, where the Christian cross is an integral part of its shape (examples is the Plaza de la Bandera, which is the largest Christian cross in the Western Hemisphere but the cross is most visible from the air or Parque Independencia which actually makes the shape of the cross with the Altar de la Patria -look at the name, it starts with 'altar'- in the middle of the cross). Even government built buildings have the shape of the cross from the air, such as the Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito (or Teatro Nacional del Cibao which is identical in Santiago). Many institutions in the government have their own assigned saint and they either celebrate or hold in a special way the day of the saint. A perfect example is the National Police which has its saint with a cross and all as a statue on the northeastern corner of the police headquarters property in Santo Domingo. The auditorium of the Central Bank has a giant Christian cross on the wall benind the stage and every event there, even yearly reviews of the economy by the governor of the institution starts with everyone making the sign of the cross and a prayer is held from the person on the podium. The vast majority of official holidays are Catholic holidays. Next to the National Palace on the same property is a Catholic chapel im the same architectural style and color as the palace and is of the exclusive use of the president, his family, and several high ranking functionaries. In the San Carlos neighborhood there is a park built and maintained by the government dedicated to Jesus Christ and the main piece is a central statue of him. In the northern part of the city is another well maintained government built park named Cristo Mío (My Christ). Do you really need an explanation of what it means? The traditional entrance of Santiago, with the monument as a background, has a traffic circle with a ststue of Saint James on a horse in the middle. Not only was the statue created by the government, its flanked by flags of the Dominican Republic on one side and Santiago on the other. On the main desk area of the Supreme Court where the main judges sit and is often presented in television, right in the middle is a unmistakable Christian cross with a Jesus Christ hanging in the middle. Every inauguration the president does includes a ceremony that doesn't consist of only a few words from him and ribbon cutting, but also a public prayer by the priest abd his sanctifying the place by spreading holy water (this is also done in private inaugurations, but in this case a person or group can inaugurate something without a priest). It goes on and on.

Even more important is that all of that and more are supported by most Dominicans and, in fact, that's one of the reason it still exist as a dependency of the government. For some its a religious manifestation and its important for the government to back the church, while for others itsjust a tradition that must be maintained for the simple fact that its a tradition.

Just because some expats moved to the Dominican Republic and apparently didn't became aware of the religious connection until after they settled in the country doesn't mean that all of a sudden their beliefs of religion and state based from where they came from is going to be accepted by Dominicans in general, regardless if they are practitioners or simply see the Catholic church as a cultural tradition. More so, expats as a whole are a very small part of the population, in fact so small that for the most part expats aren't very noticeable in places where expats presence is suppose to be the highest in the country, much less elsewhere where expats basically don't exist (and that's most of the country).
 
Last edited:
Sep 22, 2009
2,875
1,305
113
This is the nicest and most impressive church built in the Dominican Republic since Joaquín Balaguer built the Basíla Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in Higüey in the 1970's.

Some people say that the government shouldn't build churches, but the Dominican government has the Catholic church as its official religion and the concordat between the Vatican and the DR basically states that the Dominican government builds and maintain every single Catholic church in the Dominican Republic.

There are other tell tale signs that the DR has never been a country where state and reliogion was separate. For example, the flag of the country has a Christian cross (not the giant white one), a Bible, and mentions God. The country has three fathers of the country and they were a part of the secret society of "La Trinitaria" (The Trinity) based on the Holy Trinity of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The government has built many monuments, mainly in Santo Domingo, where the Christian cross is an integral part of its shape (examples is the Plaza de la Bandera, which is the largest Christian cross in the Western Hemisphere but the cross is most visible from the air or Parque Independencia which actually makes the shape of the cross with the Altar de la Patria -look at the name, it starts with 'altar'- in the middle of the cross). Even government built buildings have the shape of the cross from the air, such as the Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito (or Teatro Nacional del Cibao which is identical in Santiago). Many institutions in the government have their own assigned saint and they either celebrate or hold in a special place the day of the saint. A perfect example is the National Police, which has its saintwith cross and all as a statue on the northeastern corner of the police headquarters property in Santo Domingo. The vast majority of official holidays are of Catholic holidays. Next to the NationalPalace on the same property is a Catholic chapel im the same architectural style and color as the palace and is of the exclusive use of the president, his family, and several high ranking functionaries. The traditional entrance of Santiago, with the monument as a background, has a traffic circle with a ststue of Saint James on a horse in the middle. Not only was the statue created by the government, its flank by flags of the Dominican Republic on one side and Santiago on the other.

It goes on and on. Even more important is that all of that and more are supported by most Dominicans and, in fact, that's one of the reason it still exist as a dependency of the government. For some its a religious manifestation and its important for the government to back the church, while for others itsjust a tradition that must be maintained for the simple fact that its a tradition.

Just because some expats moved to the Dominican Republic and apparently didn't became aware of the religious connection until after they settled in the country doesn't mean that all of a sudden their beliefs of religion and state based from where they came from is going to be accepted by Dominicans in general, regardless if they are practitioners or simply see the Catholic church as a cultural tradition. More so, expats as a whole are a very small part of the population, in fact so small that for the most part expats aren't very noticeable in places where expats presence is suppose to be the highest in the country, much less elsewhere where expats are basically don't exist (and that's most of the country).
Great post NALs, most really will never understand. Especially freedom fighters.
 

Ecoman1949

Born to Ride.
Oct 17, 2015
2,794
1,301
113
Interesting architecture, especially the modern day version of the flying buttresses reminiscent of the great cathedrals of Europe. There is another interesting aspect when you look at an elevated view of the front entrance. Maybe the architect wanted to embrace “Mother Church”, in his design.