Motorboat procession on Georgia lake part of Filipino Marian devotion

Published: 2007-10-11

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Revelers at Lake Lanier in north Georgia on a recent weekend witnessed a unique sight as a motorboat carrying a statue of Mary slowly moved by them. As the boat made its way around the manmade lake, Father Chito Palang, parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, and six men with him in the boat prayed the rosary. Back on the shore, more than 100 people who were gathered for the festival of Our Lady of Penafrancia also prayed the rosary, waiting for the boat to return. Members of the Filipino-American community known as Bicolanos, named for the Bicol region of the Philippines, and their friends were continuing a long-held tradition of honoring Mary as Our Lady of Penafrancia. The congregation gathered under the shade of Georgia pine trees for a Mass celebrated by Father Palang, a Filipino priest serving in the Atlanta Archdiocese. "Our Lady of Penafrancia's feast day is very special for you Bicols, spiritually and socially as well," Father Palang said in his homily. Mass was part of the mid-September religious and cultural celebration.

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