St. Peter Parish Renewal EXperience

 About St. Peter Parish

The St. Peter Parish is located in New Capitol Estates I along Commonwealth Avenue, Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City. It consists of the area bounded by Batasan Road on the North; Tandang Sora (up to Ayala Heights Subdivision) on the South; Commonwealth Avenue on the West, and the Marikina River on the East.

The parish was officially installed in 1993, while the church itself was built and completed in 1999 through the untiring efforts of its first parish priest, Fr. Gerardo Tapiador. It is the one of the famous churches in the Philippines as it is a replica of the original St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

February 22 is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

The Parish of St. Peter is one of the 50 parishes under the Diocese of Novaliches led by His Excellency, the Most Rev. Bishop Antonio Tobias, D.D. It is the seat of the Vicarate of St. Peter. Its current parish priest is Fr. Tony Labiao.

It has the distinction of being the parish with the most number Masses in the whole country, and perhaps the entire world. In its main parish church alone, there are four daily masses [6:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 6:00 PM, and 7 PM] and on Sundays, there are 16 Masses celebrated every hour on the hour from 5:00 AM to 9 PM with only an hour's break at 1:00 PM.

It has eight sub-parishes: Ayala Heights, Ayala Hillside, Banal na Puso, Capitol Hills Golf Subdivision, Celebrity Sports Plaza, Dupax and Feria Compound.
This website is about Christian renewal in the Parish of St. Peter -- our parish. It is about our community's Catholic Action. It is what PREX is all about.

PREX, short for Parish Renewal EXperience, is a conversion experience, a rediscovery of our faith, a strong recall into belonging to the Church. PREX is neither anew organization nor a new society: neither does it dismantle existing groups and societies. It is - about the parishes renewing themselves. A step to the awareness that the parish is not a “we” ‘and “they” arrangement, but a family living with and loving one another.

What are the objectives of PREX?

PREX attempts:

1. To respond to the search for the direction and approaches for strengthening and deepening the life of the parish.

2. To give parishioners a true taste of our dignity as members of the body of christ;

3. To begin a commitment to belong to one another as a church;

4. To develop down-to-earth spirituality in response to the search for meaningful ways to experience god’s presence in our lives;

5. To call people to evangelization to bring the teachings of vatican II to the grass roots; to prepare our people for bringing the good news into all levels of humanity and through its influence, transforms humanity from within and makes it new; and

6. To unify the parish and all movements therein.

In line with these objectives, this weekend seminar will focus on the rediscovery of:

1. our relationships with those who gave us the faith;

2. the reasons why we wish to keep the faith; and

3. the directions we jointly support to pass on the faith to others.

When and how did PREX start?

The Parish Renewal Experience Seminar started in the early 1970’s when Rev. Fr. Charles Gallagher, SJ, convened a group of priests and lay people for a reflection on Pope Paul VI’s Evangelii Nuntiandi: “The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelize the world with credibility.”

In that small gathering, it became clear that for evangelization to become a reality, it required a people focus and should begin with a conversion experience that is oriented towards the parish, the basic structure of the Catholic Church. Also, evangelization must start with the family, the basic unit of society. With this in mind, the group developed general guidelines and directions for a weekend parish program.

The pilot PREX seminar was given in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, USA and from this, the weekend experience has spread to thousands of parishes in the USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Fiji, Singapore, and the Philippines. Thousands of parish priests have trained in order that they could give the weekend experience to people in their own parishes.

The training of parish priests in the Philippines took place in Baguio City in 1983 under Fr. “Chuck” Gallagher himself, on invitation of His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, who was overwhelmed and inspired by the visible results of PREX that he saw in Sanctuario de San Antonio parishioners of Forbes Park.

The most active parish in the country today in giving PREX seminars, in and out of its own parish, is the Cathedral Shrine and Parish of the Good Shepherd in Fairview Park, Quezon City, considered the “Home of PREX,” under the spiritual leadership of its former parish priests, Msgr. Fidelis Limcaco and Msgr. Jesus-Romulo C. Ranada, and now, its present parish priest, Fr. Gerardo R. Tapiador. In Fairview alone, the Cathedral Shrine & Parish of the Good Shepherd has already conducted 285 PREX classes since September of 1983. It has outreached more than 150 parishes all over the archipelago, as far as Batanes in the north and General Santos in the South.

In July 1990, an Association of Parish PREX Secretariats (now National Association of Parish PREX Secretariats Foundation, Inc.) was organized with its head office at the Good Shepherd Parish. Charter members came from 15 parishes in Metro Manila, as well as from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Its purposes are:

1. For mutual help and coordination in the conduct of PREX seminars;

2. For unity and strength in the service of Holy Mother the Catholic Church;

3. For the spiritual growth and sanctification of its members; and

4. Formation of a School of Leaders.

The Foundation has already authored several written publications, including a “PREX Manual” according to Philippine culture and conditions duly approved by the Archdiocese of Manila, a PREX Songbook (“Sing to the Trinity”), “Trailing for Trainors Handout”, and “Guide for Lead Couples.” NAPPS has, likewise, spearheaded 10 National PREX Conventions held once every two years.

In a letter to Msgr. Limcaco dated August 4, 1993, the author of the PREX Seminar himself, Fr. Gallagher, expressed his delight and was all praises over the success of the propagation of the seminar in the Philippines. More importantly, Fr. Gallagher placed his stamp of approval on the existing PREX Manual published by the Association by stating: “I was very impressed by the Manual. How can we quarrel with such great triumphs as has been brought about by the changes that have been made? Congratulations on what you’ve done with the original outline. Needless to say, I’m standing right beside you and cheering you on your plans to expand.”