Bulacan Church Hopping

A friend asked me where my recent posted photos were taken.

I was actually with my Light Group friends. One of them suggested that we try church hopping in Bulacan as part of our monthly meeting, hence this daytrip. We invaded Malolos, Plaridel, and Bocaue for a couple of hours. 

This photo: c/o Cha D.C


We found it surprising and funny to see few of the seven sacraments being conducted in every church that we visited. There’s always an ongoing wedding, (we witnessed three!), confirmation, communion, and if I am not mistaken, even baptism.

We visited five churches and one temple all in one day. We looked into the details of every church, appreciated the uniqueness present in them, and offered our personal prayers. Of course we didn’t miss our favorite activities: food trip and photo ops.

My favorite church out of all that we visited: San Andres Kim Tae-Gon church, named after a Korean Catholic priest. It’s still under construction, but the church can already accommodate church goers. There was a Kasalang Bayan going on when we arrived.

1. Replica of Magellan's Cross in Cebu

2. Relic of the True Cross

3. Old Cross of Sto. Cristo Lolomboy

Station of the Cross

Inside the church

Outside the church:

Few blocks away’s where Kim Tae-Gon temple’s located (still under construction, too). 

Church of Barasoain. Time to recall what we've learned from our Philippine History subject. There’s a museum adjacent to the church (Museo ng Republika ng 1899) that houses Philippine Independence-related stuff, but part of it contains religious items, too.

The Church of Malolos is the nearest church to Barasoain. The images on its ceiling caught my attention.

St. James Parish (where we had our shortest stay)

The Heart of Jesus and Mary Parish has a beautiful facade. The architectural design of its wall and doors appears to have a foreign vibe. We were not able to go inside the church, but we managed to see what’s inside through the small openings we found on a smaller door located at the right side of the church.

Budget and Itinerary (and Tips):

It’s highly recommended to hire a van for a more convenient travel.

Better wear comfy outfit and not-so expensive footwear. The streets going to Kim Tae-Gon temple has puddle and might become slightly flooded (ankle-level?) at times.

Bring water and umbrella (and sun block if you want to).

There are fast food chains around, but despite the super hot afternoon weather, we had our lunch at (Lita’s?) Lugawan and halo-halo in a famous food "haus" for merienda.

Van – Php 5,000 (divided equally among the passengers)

Food – depends on your order and where you’ll eat. In our case, we spent Php 100 on food (lunch and halo-halo)

No one bought pasalubong or souvenirs, so each of us spent around Php 800 for this trip.

We left Manila at 9:00 am and arrived in Ortigas at around 8:00 pm.

Church visited in proper order:

Church of Barasoain à Church of Malolos à Heart of Jesus and Mary Parish à St. James Parish à San Andres Kim Tae-Gon church à Kim Tae-Gon temple