Laureana "Ka Luring" Franco: The Holy Catechist of Manila

Laureana "Ka Luring" Franco: The Holy Catechist of Manila

Ka Luring Franco (1936 - 2011)

God indeed reveals Himself to the humble in the lowliest of disguises. And Ka Luring was sensitive to that fact - she found God and recognized Him revealing Himself in the faces of the the little children she so loved catechizing and the poor she so selflessly helped and served; that she herself became a reflection of that God she found among God's poor, which she so perfectly radiated with stunning simplicity and overflowing joy.

Laureana Franco gave up her job in a government office in order to pursue her true calling and first love, the teaching of catechism to children. From then on, Ka Luring spent the rest of her years pursuing in what for her, was her real vocation and mission in life – that of being a catechist. 

She has earned the title, "The Legendary Catechist of the Archdiocese of Manila” because of her commitment to the ministry of catechizing children. She knew so many people and so many people knew her as well. She was a regular to almost all activities and gatherings of the parish; be it prayer rallies, conferences, recollections, name it and Ka Luring will definitely be present in her simple, unassuming self, not at all concerned about the way she looked. But behind her humble appearance, is a calm confidence and disposition that allowed her to mingle, discuss and connect with anyone and everyone. Ka Luring is practically all over the place, with a ready smile for everyone. 

Early Life 

Ka Luring was born in the barrio of Hagunoy, in the town of Taguig, southeast of Manila on July 4, 1936 and received the baptismal name Laureana Franco. Aside from being the eldest among a brood of 8 children, very little is known about her childhood and family background for she never, or at least rarely, talked about personal matters except to some very close friends.  Although poor, her parents tried to instill among their children the value of prayer.  They would pray together as a family the Angelus and the holy rosary when they were still small.  Ka Luring lived a very simple and ordinary life far from the complexities and allurements of this world.   

She grew up to be pious and God-fearing and joined the Legion of Mary where she developed her strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. It is also in being a Legionary that she discovered the importance of serving the Lord. 

As a member of the Legion of Mary, she was so bothered by the fact that catechism was not part of the regular apostolate of the parish and no one was teaching catechism to the children who were either enrolled in the public school or out of school youth. Hence, she asked and received permission to conduct Saturday catechism classes for them. She held these classes under the shade of trees, after school. She taught the children about God, the Bible, the Church and the saints with much vigor and enthusiasm. 

In Pursuit of Her First Love 

In 1969, Ka Luring made a very crucial decision in her life when she decided to resign from her work as a switchboard operator and accounting clerk with the Philippine Air Force and spent the separation pay she got to enroll for a catechist’s training course and applied as a volunteer catechist of the Archdiocese of Manila. Since it was volunteer work, she did not receive any regular compensation from the Archdiocese.  

She has taken the teaching of catechism as her personal mission in life, hence, she felt that there was no retirement in this vocation she has so willingly and joyfully embraced, and retirement has never been in her plans. She lived this mission with much commitment and joy until death. 

Ka Luring, as she was fondly addressed by everyone including Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila was never bothered of not having any regular income or pension to live by on the coming years. This it seemed was her least concern, in spite of her own poverty. 

Although her friends never tire of reminding her of the security and comfort that she has given up, they came to a realization that she has no regrets or whatsoever and was in fact, very happy in what she was doing.

Ka Luring found her greatest security not in the things of the world, but in serving and loving the Lord through her service in the Archdiocese of Manila’s, and later in the Diocese of Pasig’s catechetical ministry (Pasig became a separate Diocese in 2003). She has simple joys and was happiest whenever she’s with the children, teaching them catechism. 

Although Ka Luring never regretted her decision, she did admit that there were times when she would run short of funds and would go around to practically beg for transportation money. She just relied on donations given by relatives and friends and of the people she approaches whenever the need arises. There were also times when she had to travel by foot to reach her destination. 

Veteran Catechist 

Ka Luring began her stint as a catechist in the Parish of St. Anne, Taguig and then in St. Michael Parish in Hagunoy, Taguig where her place of residence was. She would be up as early as 4 in the morning in order to prepare for a whole day's work of going to mass and praying, teaching catechism in the public schools, preparing teaching aids and materials, and attending to the needs of poor people. After a whole day of pastoral work – she would retire to her house just to sleep and to prepare herself for the demands of the following day. 

Because of her passion and experience in catechizing, she became an excellent mentor and model for new catechists in her prayer life, teaching, serving the people, loving the poor, and fidelity to the teachings and mission of the Church. 

Even seminaries and congregations of sisters would approach her to seek for her help for the accompaniment of their seminarians and candidates in the catechetical apostolate.  Because of this, many priests and religious sisters came to know Ka Luring and were inspired by her passion and dedication to the ministry. 

One of Ka Luring’s tasks as catechist was to fetch seminarians and bring them to the apostolate area for their weekly catechism classes in public schools. She loved every seminarian and enjoyed their company. She was very patient in guiding them and the seminarians for their part, learned a lot from the seasoned catechist. These seminarians would later on become her priest-friends. And she would be present in their ordinations. 

Servant of the Poor 

When Ka Luring was not busy catechizing her pupils, she would be with the poorest of the poor, serving them. She has a regular apostolate in a depressed area near her home. She would visit the elderly in their homes and take care of them with much care and compassion,  in a manner that their families have not done for them. 

Ka Luring was very kind and selfless and many considered her a true friend. She was a happy person to talk to. Every encounter with her was light and relaxing, leaving the person very peaceful and blessed. Ka Luring never tired from serving the parish, the school, the poor, and even tried her hand in helping indigent college students. She would go around soliciting funds from parishes and priests who share her advocacy to support their studies. Despite her own lacking of financial resources, all donations just pass through Ka Luring’s hands, going to their respective beneficiaries. She never took anything for herself.

 

People knew that she most of the time would just walk on foot going about her tasks as a catechist, visiting the elderly, or soliciting money for the poor and her scholars because she doesn’t have any money for transportation. 

Whatever she does, she does it for others and not for herself.  It was said that Ka Luring never slept with money in her pockets.  She literally empties herself at the end of each day, by helping those in need and making sure that no money was left in her pockets for she knew, and strongly believed that God will provide.  Ka Luring willfully embraced a life of mendicancy in pursuit of her real treasure - Jesus!

Prayer Warrior 

Ka Luring was also a tough prayer warrior.  She would always promise to pray for her friends – seminarians, religious sisters, priests and lay persons whom she thought were experiencing some forms of crisis or problem or she would pray for their particular intentions. Her prayers prove to be efficacious because included in her prayers are the fasting and sacrifices that she does, the recitation of the holy rosary, and visits to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Ka Luring would always pray particularly for priests and bishops of the Archdiocese of Manila. 

Fool of Christ 

Because of her caliber as a veteran catechist, she was once approached by a group of Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) missionaries recruiting catechists for their faith. The group came to her house, offering her an envelope containing USD 10,000. The Mormon missionaries promised to give Ka Luring the same amount every month to fund a catechetical program for them and to help her with her finances if she agrees to be their catechist.  It was such a great temptation that was difficult to resist. Her mother was then dying of cancer and the bills had begun to pile up because of her treatment. But she told the Mormon recruiters “I can fool myself and I can fool you into believing I have changed my faith and give catechesis for you, just for the salary. But I can never fool God, he will know the truth.” 

Ka Luring faced the coming years, still poor, relying only on God’s providence, and went on with her mission of catechizing.  She was very faithful to the Church and dedicated to her mission.  

Ka Luring would always laugh whenever she was called “foolish” or “crazy” by friends and people who knew her because of her decision to pursue working as a volunteer catechist, without any salary.

Friend of Cardinal Sin 

Because of Ka Luring’s joyful disposition and simplicity, she was able to win the friendship of many priests, many of whom she guided in their catechism apostolate when they were still seminarians. She also enjoyed close friendship with no other than the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Sin himself. The simple catechist would frequent Villa San Miguel to visit the Cardinal and her presence brought joy and peace to the Cardinal. She would tell the cardinal her stories and anecdotes about her experiences as a church worker. There were times when the Cardinal would summon her to his office to talk to her about his concerns for the Church and to request for her prayers. The cardinal believed in the power and efficacy of this lowly catechist’s prayer.

Awarded and Recognized

In December 1989, she was called to Villa San Miguel where the Cardinal informed her that she will be the recipient of the papal award “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” for her exemplary service as a lay catechist.   She hesitated and was unwilling to accept the award saying to the cardinal: “Give the award to someone else. I cannot afford the ceremony and the celebration.” 

Once again, she heard how foolish she was, “So many people are longing for recognition like this,” the cardinal said. “It belongs to you because of your service to the Church and to the children. Give us this chance to thank you.” 

On April 1, 1990, Ka Luring received the papal award, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in a simple ceremony befitting one whose enduring commitment and quiet ways demand no recognition of any kind. 

In 2002, she was co-awardee of the Mother Teresa Award given by the AY Foundation. News spread in her community that she received a Php 500,000 cash prize together with the recognition. People didn’t know that the money would not go to Ka Luring but to a foundation which the organizers have chosen. The only thing Ka Luring received was the plaque of recognition. But people suddenly came to Ka Luring asking help while others would secure credit from sari-sari stores saying that it would be paid by Ka Luring. The only thing that Ka Luring can do was to laugh because people seemed to have thought that she won in the lottery. 

It was said that Ka Luring was just one of the two women whom Cardinal Sin authorized to be extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion especially to the sick. 

Catechist in Heaven 

Anyone who knew Ka Luring would say that she was a true Christian not because she was prayerful or giving and charitable or because she was patient in suffering or loving of her neighbors. 

Most of all, Ka Luring will always be remembered as a person who exuded Christian joy. She was always smiling and very tender and welcoming to anyone. She always has some good and inspiring words to say that gave hope to anyone she encountered. 

Is not Christian joy the greatest expression and manifestation of holiness? Ka Luring was filled with joy because it was Jesus who was in her heart and it was the Holy Spirit who guided her in her labor in God’s kingdom.

Ka Luring died of cancer on October 17, 2011. Before her death, she was visited in the hospital by her favorite people in the world – those people whom she served and served with – her relatives, her friends, fellow catechists, religious sisters, seminarians, priests, bishops, Cardinal Rosales, and most of all, her most beloved poor. 

"Are there really catechists in heaven?" says an article written by Fr. Ramil Marcos, former Secretary to Cardinal Sin, in Trellis, the official publication of CFAM. It ended with the following words: 

“Are there really catechists in heaven? Well, Ka Luring is already there now praying for us even if we cannot see or feel her. On earth she was the Lord’s catechist and heavenly glory can only enhance, not erase that identity. There the servant joins her Master’s eternal banquet, ever mindful of those she left behind still struggling for the soul of Manila, for the poor of Manila, for the priests and people of Manila.” 

Through the quiet and simple witness of her life, Ka Luring has preserved and kept safe the pearl of the great price which she found.  Nothing has taken her sight off that treasure, since the the day she had unearthed it, and surrendered everything she had - her very own self, her very being to take possession of that great treasure - her most sweet and precious Jesus who revealed himself in the little children she catechized and the poorest of the poor she helped and served.  

On October 17, 2020, in a holy mass commemorating the 9th death anniversary of Ka Luring, Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of the Pasig Diocese announced the opening of the Diocesan Process of Inquiry for the cause of beatification of Ka Luring which will formally commence in 2021 in line with the celebration of the 500th year of Christianity in the Philippines.    

Thank you, Ka Luring, Sorry Ka Luring

Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, Bishop of Pasig

Thank you, Ka Loring, because…

We hunger and yearn for the presence of God. And through your simplicity and genuine witness to the gospel, you nourished our hearts that fed and gorged in self-centeredness, wordliness and pride. You showed Jesus to us in the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, the one true food that can satisfy all longing.

We thirst for the Word of God. And through your kindness, hard work and dedication as a catechist, God made you an instrument to quench that thirst. We tried to satisfy our thirst by drawing on the wells of riches, power, and comforts that do not last. You showed us Jesus the Word of God, the only true spiritual drink leading us to the Father, the refreshing fountain of salvation.

We are stripped of the dignity proper to God’s children due to our sins. Through what you taught us in word and deed, we received anew the cloak of Christian dignity. Through your gentle preaching, we realized that the light of Christ should illumine our attitudes and lead us to sincere charity for the needy and the poor around us.

We are hurt and wounded deep inside by the division, conflicts and infighting in families and communities. You became God’s instrument of healing to many discouraged souls – not by your mere words but above all, through your prayers and sacrifices. Through you, we who nurtured longstanding bitterness and anger learned the value of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation.

We were strangers to you when we met you in the beginning. Yet you took the first step to introduce yourself as a simple catechist, a servant of the parish, a helper of priests in serving the Church. As you welcomed us, we felt we were ushered into the heart of the Lord, into his home. There we found love and consolation. With your help, we felt we were embraced, not abandoned, by God.

Many of us lived like prisoners bound to the chains of vices that lead us to sin. You visited us and your heartfelt smile and silence made us feel the visit of Jesus who assures us of our importance and lasting value; thus, we need not lose hope in life.

Our gratitude comes with the need to seek your pardon…

Forgive us for the occasions you felt you were like a miserable beggar approaching us for alms which you dutifully distributed to the poor.

Forgive us for the times we didn’t even bother to ask you to join us for food and drink though we knew how tired you were in your ceaseless activities in the service of the Church.

Forgive us for the moments we have ignored you when you came to us for help, the help that was always intended for others. 

Forgive us priests, nuns, catechists who wounded your feelings because we were not faithful witnesses to Christ.

Forgive us that in the last hour of your life we were not available at your side to hold your hand and to make you feel that you had companions in the midst of the relentless pain of cancer and the steady deterioration of your body.

Forgive us, for as you breathed your last, maybe we were so busy we didn’t even think of you, remember you, or prayed for you as you entered the darkness of death and traversed through the life and light that never ends.

Ka Loring, thank you. Ka Loring, sorry! How we pray that one day, God will declare to us as he did to you: come you blessed of my Father. Enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Amen.

References: 

“Are There Really Catechists in Heaven?” Retrieved from http://www.cfamphil.org/sites/default/files/trillis-mag/trellis.pdf on June 10, 2020.

"Bishop Mylo on Ka Luring" retrieved from http://parish.stvpasig.org/index.php?view=article&id=212%3Aka-luring&option=com_content&Itemid=56 on June 16, 2020.

“Laurena Franco a.k.a. “Ka Luring” retrieved from http://ourparishpriest.blogspot.com/2019/06/laureana-franco-aka-ka-luring.html on June 11, 2020. 

“Lay Woman Is Unpaid, Volunteer Catechist for Life” retrieved from https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/1995/05/23/lay-woman-is-unpaid-volunteer-catechist-for-life&post_id=47347 on June 12, 2020. 

Photos:  CTTO