Start of the Annual Assembly 2016

The Annual Assembly is one of the most important activities of the Philippine Region. It is normally held in the beginning of January in Cagayan de Oro City. This year the assembly started on January 4 and will end on January 8, 2016. The purpose of this gathering is to evaluate the activities of the Region and plan new ones. The theme of the Annual Assembly 2016 is “‘Servants of God’s Mercy’ (MV 17); Answering the call of the Founder ‘Go, let the World know the Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus'” and was inspired by the “Misericordiae Vultus”, the Bull of the Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy declared by Pope Francis and conclusions of the XXIII General Chapter in Rome “Merciful, in community, with the poor.” As usual it started with a short recollection conducted by Fr. Dariusz Drzewiecki, MIC, who helped the group to reflect on the theme of the “Year of Mercy” and was followed by the Community Reconciliation facilitated by Fr. Szymon Bendowski, SCJ, personal confession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The whole afternoon of the first day was dedicated to personal sharing of all the participants who tried to answer the three following questions: What do you consider as most significant experience of the past year 2015? How can your experience of God’s mercy help to draw others closer to Christ? and What possible changes in your life do you hope to effect during this Year of Mercy? The activities of the first day were concluded with the celebration of the Eucharist presided by Fr. Francis Pupkowski, SCJ, the superior of the Philippine Region.

On the second day of the assembly the different committees and communities will report their activities of the year 2015.  Wednesday and Thursday will be the core of the activities.. It will consist of three workshops allowing the assembly to identify the “lights and shadows” and challenges lying ahead of the Philippine Region, and come out with concrete plan of action. The method that will be used during these workshops is: SEE, JUDGE and ACT.

The assembly is attended by thirty five participants (35), members of the Philippine Region and guests. Among the guests there are: Fr. Paulus Sugino, the General Councilor for Asia, Fr. Luca Zottoli, the General Treasurer from Rome and Fr. Thai Tran, the representative from the District of Vietnam.

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Christmas Greetings

Nativity Murillo Filipino Painting ColladoChrist the Lord, the Savior of the world, lying in the manger, is the light and life that the Father wants to give us so that God’s own divine life might flow through us and his divine light shine within us. He is the face of the Father’s mercy (MV 1). He frees us from guilt and gives us life that will not end so that we might live with him in the splendor of his Father forever.  

May the celebration of His birth, the wonder of His love, and the presence of Emmanuel, God with us, overcome every manifestation of our indifference and transform it into manifestations of our passionate love for Christ and His people.

May Christ’s love touch our hearts this Christmas. May it help us to appreciate the value of every human person – young or old, healthy or sick, born or unborn. May Christ’s love inspire us to create a society where all are treated fairly, where no one goes hungry or in need and where everybody is honored with the dignity due to the children of God.

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and Grace filled New Year 2016!

“Thank you” from Tanauan, Leyte

Tanauan is one of the oldest towns in the Province of Leyte, Philippines dating back to the year 1710. It is a second class municipality composed of fifty-four (54) barangays. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 50,119 people. The town has been baptized the title of “Cradle of the Intellectuals” or “Bungto Han Kamag-araman” since the Spanish colonial period. Tanauan is approximately eighteen (18) kilometers south of Tacloban City which is the Capital of the Eastern Visayas Region. It is bounded on the north by the Municipality of Palo, on the south by the Municipality of Tolosa, on the west by the Municipalities of Dagami and Tabon-Tabon, and on the east by San Pedro Bay. The town was heavily damaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November 2013. (From Wikipedia)

Recently, the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, who helped the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in Tanauwan, received a plaque of “Thank you” from the Local Government of the said town. The group of seminarians from Dehon House in Quezon City, under the guidance of Fr. Delio Ruiz, SCJ, spent their Christmas break extending their help to those who lost everything they had, including members of their families. Here the SCJ Philippine Region would like to thank all those, who through their generosity and open hearts made it possible.

Priestly Ordination of Deacon Dinh

D20A0416On November 30, 2015, Feast of Saint Andrew, the Apostle, Deacon Dinh Van Nguyen, member of the SCJ District in Vietnam, was ordained a priest. The ceremony of ordination took place during the Holy Mass at  in Tierra Verde Homes I Subdivision, Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City, presided by the ordaining bishop, Most Rev. Antonio R. Tobias, D.D., the ordinary of the Diocese of Novaliches, where the parish and the SCJ Formation House belong.

Fr. Dinh is 39 years old and comes from the family of seven children in Dong Nai Province in Vietnam. He has two sisters and four brothers. In 2002, he arrived in the Philippines to study Philosophy at the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, where he met the first SCJ students from Vietnam. Although his initial wish was to become a Jesuit, he got easily attracted to the spirituality of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and decided to be one of them.

His vocation to the priesthood started 21 years ago when he was an altar boy. He got attracted by his parish priest who was very simple and holy. His wish that time was to become one day like him, and now his dreams came true.

Fr. Dinh is the 8th SCJ, who underwent the formation process and was ordained in the Philippines. His plan after the ordination is to return to Vietnam, to work in the formation program and to teach Philosophy or Theology.

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The ordination of Fr. Dinh was attended by more than 30 family members and friends from Vietnam and many friends from the Philippines.

Congratulations Fr. Dinh and God bless you on this new way of life from all the members of the SCJ Philippine Region!