Fr. Steve with SCJs in the Philippines

As noted yesterday, Fr. Stephen Huffstetter is visiting our missions in the Philippines and Vietnam this month to learn about the community and its ministries there. Today he writes on the way to Mindanao:

In the past few days I’ve traveled using many different modes of transportation. I write this from a bunk in a cabin on a ship bound overnight for the Island of Mindanao. The Philippines consists of over 7,000 islands, and in many places, water is the primary means of passage.

SCJ parish in the Philippines

Monday we toured an SCJ parish on the outskirts of Manila. St. Roque is in the Bagonsilang district of Caloacan City. Fr. John Karl, the pastor, tells me that there are 50,000 families here in one of the densest parts of the city. He, Fr. Nino and Deacon Chris live in a simple concrete block…