IN PHOTOS: Latter-day Saints’ Elder Kearon visits Cardinal David

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The Latter-day Saints have been a longtime partner of the Philippine Catholic Church, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David tells Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Elder Patrick Kearon, one of the highest leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, paid a courtesy call on Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David soon after the bishop returned to Manila from Rome.

Kearon, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Christian church, met with David on Wednesday, May 21, as part of a 10-day visit to the Philippines. The scheduled courtesy call took place at the Diocese of Kalookan, hours after the cardinal arrived in Manila on Tuesday evening, May 20.

Here are the photos of the visit, which the Church of Jesus Christ released on Thursday, May 22.

“It was wonderful to see Cardinal David again,” Kearon said. “He is constantly caring for those who might be forgotten. I was reminded of the Savior’s teaching in Matthew 25:40 — ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'”

David told Rappler that the Church of Jesus Christ has been a longtime partner of the Philippine Catholic Church.

David, the bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan, is also the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

“The elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been our partners in our many advocacies since I was still an auxiliary bishop of San Fernando, Pampanga, and serving as parish priest of Holy Rosary Parish,” said David.

David listed the following efforts of the Latter-day Saints to partner with the Catholic Church in the country:

• Volunteering in David’s environmental advocacy work, called Sagip Sapang Balen, in Angeles City in Pampanga
• Helping digitize baptismal books in the Philippines when David was already president of the CBCP
• Aiding in disaster response and livelihood programs during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Assisting in the new listening and accompaniment ministry called Kaagapay, “which attends to people with mental health issues, including substance use disorder”

The meeting between David and Kearon was followed by a gathering of 250 parolees and former detainees in the Diocese of Kalookan’s Kaagapay project.

Kearon gave David 30 sets of the Church of Jesus Christ’s Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience manuals, “designed to help individuals strengthen emotional well-being while applying the teachings of Jesus Christ and learning practical life skills,” according to the Christian church.

The Church of Jesus Christ also “donated 250 food kits and 250 hygiene kits for the parolees and former detainees.”

David, 66, is an advocate of dialogue among different faiths.

In an October 2024 interview with Vatican News, the Filipino cardinal emphasized the need “to be able to walk with people of other faiths, other religions, other denominations within Christianity — to be able to work together for social justice, for the poorest of the poor, for human rights, for the integrity of creation.” – Rappler.com