After giving the 400 yo Calumpit church a ‘makeover,’ parish priest told to attend conservation lectures

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Surely, you’ve seen those viral photos: a supposedly 400-year-old church in Calumpit, Bulacan looking like a frilly pink cake as it gets a horrendous makeover.

The photos showed the church’s façade painted orange and its belfry painted pink. “Moreover, iron braces were fitted into the belfry,” reports Edgar Allan Sembrano in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Many have compared it to a cake, while others to a dollhouse. It was funny as much as it was, hmm, sad.

Heritage advocates, as expected, slammed the renovations on the façade and belfry of the Sanit john the Baptist Church in Calumpit Bulacan. It is supposed to be the oldest church in Bulacan, they say.

According to the report, the diocese of Bulacan did not approve of the renovation. The parish did apply for a “retrofitting,” — which was approved, by the way — but as the Inquirer report notes, “instead of retrofitting, what happened was a ‘renovation.” And if we may add, not a very good one.

It probably came from a good place. We mean, isn’t initiative a good thing? Fr. Proseco Espiritu, the town parish priest reportedly initiated the makeover.

Sadly, his good intentions weren’t guided with good practices. According to former president of Bulacan Heritage Society Jaime Corpuz, the parish priest didn’t seek experts’ advice on how to properly execute the renovation.

The solution? Last Thursday, May 28, the Diocese of Malolos directed Father Espiritu to attend lectures on proper procedures on conservation.

We hope he’ll attend a handful of lectures and that it won’t be too late for the current renovation of the church.

Photo: Eliseo Dela Cruz/Facebook