Now celebrating its 40th year, the Bukas Loob sa Diyos Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community was established as a private association of the lay faithful in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and submits to the authority of the Roman Pontiff and its representatives in the Catholic hierarchy. The BLD Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community started in June 1985 in Manila, Philippines, which is now the center of its international organization. The BLD aims to empower the lay faithful in the task of evangelization by promoting the values of the Kingdom of God among individuals, couples, and families through various encounter and renewal programs. It has formed BLD Districts throughout the world, with organized structures and relationships, to effectively advance the BLD Community’s purpose.  Today, the total number of BLD Districts worldwide is 69 made up of 18 full-term districts (including BLD San Pablo District), 30 full-fledged districts, and 21 districts in process (DIP) and various prayer groups in Canada, United States, Hongkong and the Philippines all making up 27 clusters of districts.

History

BLD started in Los Baños as a prayer group of nine couples who attended the various Marriage Encounter Weekend seminars conducted in Baguio, Tagaytay, and Antipolo by the pioneer BLD Manila District. The first prayer meeting of the group was held on 11 April 1988 in a small room that used to be a Kindergarten schoolroom at the residence of Romy (deceased) and Luming Del Castillo (ME Class 132, Manila). As the scripture says in ACTS 5:14, “.... More and more believers, men and women in great numbers, were continually added to the Lord.” By the end of 1988, the Los Baños prayer group had grown to 28 encountered couples and three members of religious organizations. Thus, on 3 January 1989, then BLD spiritual director Rev. Fr. Pascual “Ado” Adorable and the Council of Elders headed by its presiding elders Antonio “Sonny” and Barbara “Bai” delos Reyes formally assigned Philip and Bubut Neri as Community Shepherd for Los Baños, thereby making the prayer group a district of BLD based in Los Baños. On 11-13 August 1989, the BLD Los Baños District successfully sponsored its first marriage encounter (ME) weekend at the Continuing Education Center at the UP Los Baños campus. BLD LB-ME 1 had a harvest of 21 couples and three singles. With the rapid growth of the District through the various encounter weekends usually held twice a year, the venue for their prayer meetings transferred to the then St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish on campus.

That same year (1989), the BLD LB Youth Ministry was formed with Ben /Linda Juliano as couple coordinator, ferrying the first batch of youths to the YLSS in Manila. BLD LB had its first Youth Encounter Weekend (YEW) in 1994 with Jeng/Kiko Reyes as couple coordinator, and had its first YLSS Los Baños in 1995.

The unified District of San Pablo (Laguna) was organized in January 2000 through the merger of two separate districts within the Diocese of San Pablo, one based in Los Baños (started January 1989), and the other, in San Pedro (started August 1991). The merger aimed to make the District of San Pablo a full-term District able to maximize the resources and capabilities of the two districts and carry out BLD programs for evangelization, pastoral care, formation, mission and management.

However, the then Executive Council of Servant Leaders (ECSL) recognized the distinction between the South and North sectors and their differences in opportunities and thrusts. It also considered the rising costs and demands of travel on the District leadership between the two sectors such that by 2010, the Council set the District of San Pablo into two sub-Districts, the North sector (covering San Pedro, Biñan, Sta. Rosa, and Muntinlupa areas), and the South sector (covering the towns of  Cabuyao, Calamba, Los Baños, Bay, Pila,  and Calauan). Each sub-district had its own set of Council of Stewards to better manage and plan the course of the evangelization thrust in each particular area of concern.

The South sector of the District had its Corporate Worship Service (CWS) every Thursday, 7:30 pm, at the Diocesan Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus (DSSTCJ) parish at the UP Los Baños campus.  The North sector. on the other hand. met every Saturday, 8:00 p.m., at the St. Joseph the Worker Parish at Calendola Village, San Pedro.

In 2015, the BLD San Pablo South District became the BLD San Pablo District and the BLD San Pablo North was renamed BLD San Pedro. Under the BLD global organization, the BLD San Pablo belongs to Cluster 6 which also includes BLD Lucena.

BLD San Pablo District Today

Called to “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), the BLD San Pablo District shares in the task of evangelization by organizing Marriage Encounter Weekend (MEW) Seminars, Life in the Spirt Seminars (LSS) for adults and youths, and encounter weekend seminars for families, youth, singles, and solo parents.

The BLD Pastoral Care is the program by which, as members of the BLD Community, we express our response to God’s covenant love by nurturing and caring for one another, and bring to full maturity in Christ all those whom the Holy Spirit has entrusted to us in the BLD Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community. The Word Sharing Circle Program of the Community is the primary platform of the BLD pastoral care program. The members of the word sharing circle with their circle shepherd, who presides and facilitates the sessions, gather weekly for the purpose of deepening their knowledge on the Word of God; live it out in their day-to-day personal, family, vocational, and Community life; minister to each other’s needs and burdens; and to build sound interpersonal relationships in the Lord, among others.

Corporate Worship

BLD San Pablo continues to have its weekly corporate worship service every Thursday, 7:30 p.m. at DSSTCJ, UP Los Baños campus. Like all other BLD districts, the first week of the month is for Eucharistic Celebration, and the subsequent month’s weekly worship services feature reflection, teaching, and healing respectively on the second, third, and fourth week; plus sharing by an invited witness if the month has a fifth Thursday.

Emmaus Ministry

The Emmaus Ministry, under the pastoral care program of the Community, was originally intended to extend the spiritual infilling that the worship service to persons who had not yet joined any of BLD’s renewal programs (encounters and LSS) as well as inactive members who for some reason found it hard to attend the Thursday evening corporate worship service, i.e., due to work or reduced mobility at night. Originally held every third Saturday, 2 p.m. at DSSTCJ Room 1, the Solo Parents Ministry and the Singles Ministry later chose the Emmaus worship schedule as their own and timed their word sharing circles before or after the worship. Today, the monthly Emmaus worship service is held every second Saturday of the month, 2:00 pm at the St. John Paul II Chapel in Los Baños Subd., Brgy. Batong Malake while DSSTCJ is unable to regularly offer it a venue.

Scholarship of Hope

Through its mission and poverty alleviation programs, the BLD-San Pablo District brings Christ to the poor and the marginalized members of our society. The BLD Scholarship of Hope (SOH), an educational assistance program developed and advocated by the then Archbishop of Jaro and second BLD Global Spiritual Director, His Excellency Angel Lagdameo, aims to help children from the “poorest of the poor” acquire formal education even if not necessarily academically gifted. Through the scholarship, the BLD community plants the seed of hope in the hearts of children longing for a brighter future. At present, the BLD-San Pablo District has 33 SOH grantees spread across the various communities under the District – Cabuyao, Calamba, Los Baños, Putho Tuntungin, Bay, Calauan and Pila, Laguna.

Governance

Each BLD District is governed by a District Council of Stewards (DCS) with a term of three years. The DCS is composed five steward couples of BLD’s five apostolates. For the BLD San Pablo District for 2024-2027, they are Jhun/Elsa Alger for evangelization; Lito/Mildred Gaspar for formation; Celso/Susan Maligalig for pastoral; Jun/Eva Catalan for mission; and Fernan/Edith Artates for management. Rev. Fr. Philip B. Atienza, DSSTCJ shrine rector and parish priest, has served as District Spiritual Director since 2019.

A District Leaders Conference (DLC) comprising ministry couple coordinators and their assistant coordinators under the five apostolates and homestead shepherds with their assistants under the mission apostolate executes BLD’s programs with their members.

Homesteads

Five homesteads of BLD San Pablo District hold their own corporate worship services in their respective localities as follows: at Putho-Tuntungin every Friday, 7:30 pm at the Chapel of the Risen Christ; at Calauan every Saturday, 7:30 pm at San Isidro Labrador Parish; at Calamba City every Saturday, 7:30 pm at St. John the Baptist Parish; and at Cabuyao City every Friday, 7:30 pm at St. Francis of Assisi Parish.