Virtual Cebu: Catholic youths bring Sinulog to life through Roblox

ARTICLE: JULIANE BERNARDINE DAMAS | JANUARY 27, 2024

Young Filipino Catholics (YFC) broadcast mass at the Pilgrim Centre - Basilica Minore del Santo Niño via Facebook, connecting hearts for young Filipino Catholics across digital altars. | via Juliane Bernardine Damas

In the midst of the rapidly advancing technological era, Young Filipino Catholics (YFC) have found a unique way to celebrate and preserve one of the Philippines’ grandest feasts, the Sinulog festival of Cebu. This week-long celebration dedicated to honoring Santo Niño has found a new home in the virtual realm of Roblox, transcending geographical boundaries and offering an immersive experience for believers.

The online gaming platform that allowed users to create or enter game worlds has accommodated interested Roblox users in the virtual masses from January 11 to 21, 2024. This is in celebration of the 459th celebration of the Fiesta Señor Sinulog 2024-Misa Mayor on January 22, 2024, which also conducted a virtual solemn foot procession in honor of the Señor Santo Niño.

The Roblox Filipino Catholics (RFC) harnessed the power of this bustling world and created an innovative path conducting virtual masses and religious festivities, creating a unique and immersive experience for believers, reflecting Filipino religious faith and tradition.

Preserving Culture

Roblox, founded in 2006, has become a dynamic space where users can not only create and explore various game worlds but also where communities can thrive.

The RFC, as a community of youthful believers, started in 2019 and began formal operations in 2020. They conducted masses and religious festivities in the virtual environment during the COVID-19 pandemic and also used the game to preserve the culture of dedication and festival that the situation had steadily undermined.

In an interview with Rappler, RFC lead administrator and external affairs director David John Torres said that it was an effort to preserve devotions that were set aside during the pandemic and help young Catholics who were isolated at home.

Even as physical gatherings and celebrations slowly resumed, the RFC community continued to hold online celebrations such as Cebu's Sinulog. The group celebrated Señor Santo Niño with masses and a solemn foot parade around virtual Cebu, attended by 200 people.

Sinulog commemorates the founding of Christianity in the Philippines in 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan presented the Santo Niño de Cebú relic to Rajah Humabon. This became a significant aspect of Cebuano's cultural identity and religious devotion to Santo Niño de Cebú (Child Jesus).

Nurturing Faith in the Digital Age

Children participating in masses in the Roblox virtual environment are assigned a specific role during each mass and festivity. In this way, children preserve their faith while becoming more aware of the church’s practices.

According to Torres, one of the goals of RFC is to increase youngsters' awareness of religious experiences, which could be translated into meaningful social change.

The RFC organized a virtual Traslacion in 2021 and expanded the celebration this 2024 by creating a dedicated Facebook page to promote their Roblox Traslacion. This resulted in the group receiving over 100,000 views on their Facebook live stream and up to 2,000 unique gamers on their servers.

Inspired by similar initiatives on other open-world platforms, Minecraft Catholic Filipinos (MCF), formed by Lucas Bucalig and led by William, also went to the open-world server Minecraft to exhibit their devotion to the Black Nazarene.

Their efforts made the first CrafTraslacion possible, which spread out to other groups with 600 online viewers.

As technology continues to integrate into our daily lives, RFC and MCF’s innovative use of Roblox and Minecraft not only provides a platform for virtual religious celebrations but also guides young Filipino Catholics towards a sincere intent and understanding of their faith, ensuring that the traditions and beliefs endure in the digital age.

Today, the RFC community consists of roughly 4,000 people from around the country, including learners, altar servers, ministry members, and worship groups.