Today, on May 11, 2015, seven Postulants: two (2) Filipinos and five (5) Vietnamese were accepted to the Novitiate. The ceremony took place at the Novitiate Fr. Dehon in Lower Lucoban, Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur during the Holy Eucharist. The new Novices will be accompanied in their fourteen month journey by their Novice Master Fr. Indra Pamungkas, who also started his office with the “Profession of Faith”. The ceremony was presided by the Regional Superior Fr. Francis Pupkowski, scj.
Fr. P.J. McGuire, an SCJ from the U.S. Province has visited the Philippines several times. As an expert in Fr. Dehon and SCJ spirituality, on several occasions he conducted seminars, workshops, and retreats. The Philippines for him is like a magnet, where he always returns with pleasure. This time Fr. P.J. came to the Philipines to assist the SCJ students in their learning English as a second language. Since English is the main tool of communication at the university and in the seminary and many students, especially those from Vietnam, have problems to understand the spoken language and to express themselves. The summer course is an ideal occasion to learn it well. Fr. P.J. is native of New Jersey and, as he says, he had once a New York accent. All the students of the Summer English Course are divided into two groups: basic and advanced. Ma’am Dolly Mae Ybañez, the regular English teacher, is taking care of the group learning the basics and Fr. P.J. is with the advanced group. The advanced group is composed of six students, five Vietnamese and one Filipino. The course started of April 13, 2015 and will end on May 22, 2015. Normally, the classes start at 9:00 AM and last until 12:00 noon time with one 30 minute break. In the afternoon the students have one on one personal conversations with their teacher. For this year Fr. P.J. prepared an ESL program based on the Scripture. There are 15 chapters, each about a 1000 words long. The students have read it 2-3 times. The reading is followed by questions to see how well they understand the text. So far, Fr. P.J. is satisfied with his students, saying that they made a noticeable progress and they had a good foundation to begin with. Besides, the students are working very hard. The English Summer Course started several years ago upon the request of formators from Cagayan de Oro Formation House and it has proved to be very helpful. Among the SCJs from the U.S. Province who came to the Philippines to teach English were: Fr. Quang Nguyen, Fr. Bernard Rosinski, who came twice, Fr. Frank Wittouck, Fr. John Klingler, Fr. Tom Cassidy, Fr. Vien Nuyen and Bro. Long Nguyen.
Br. Javier Lopez, scj, from the Spanish Province, a psychologist and professor at San Pablo University in Madrid, also a member of the SCJ Theological Commission, was one of the main facilitators in the Preparation for Final Vows organized by the SCJ Asian Zone and held in the Philippines. Using this opportunity, the Philippine Region invited him to share his ideas from the psychological point of view on the “Forgiveness and Religious Life,” during the monthly meeting on April 27, 2015, held at the Sacred Heart Formation House in Cagayan de Oro City. The topic is very much related to the motto of the XXIII General Chapter of the Congregation “Merciful, in the Community, with the Poor” and was a good occasion to reflect on God’s unconditional Love for all and the need of forgiveness among the members in each community. The participants found this guided reflection very practical, insightful and helpful.
The Final Vows Preparation Program for the Asian Zone is held every year in a different place. This year the course is being hosted by the Philippine Region. It takes place at the Dehon House in Manila from April 12 to May 9, 2014. Each of the four weeks of the program is guided by one facilitator coming from a different entity.
It started with the theme “Religious Vows: Spirituality and Dehonian dimension,” and was led by Fr. Petrus Santoso, scj from the Indonesian Province. The theme of the second week was “Religious Vows, Psychological Growth and Maturity. Person and Community,” and was facilitated by Brother Javier Lopez Martinez, scj from the Spanish Province. On the third week Fr. Patrick Gutib from the Philippine region and Fr. James McTavish from the Verbum Dei Congregation, are tackling at the moment the theme “In the Spirit of Vatican II and other Church’s Documents: The Apostolic Dimension of the Religious Vows.” The course will end with the Spiritual Retreat on the fourth week and it will conducted by Fr. Rino Venturin, scj from the Vietnam District.
All in all, there are 13 (thirteen) participants of this course; 10 (ten) scholastics from Indonesia, 1 (one) from the Philippine Region, and 2 (two) from Vietnam District. Beside the Program’s activities, Lectures, Reflections, Workshops, and Synthesis, the participants share the community life and some schedules of the Dehon House Theologate community, such as: the Holy Eucharist, Adoration, meals, tasking, sports and recreation. All this give to everybody the opportunity to feel at home together in a SCJ Asian wide community during this time.
Fr. Delio Ruiz (Coordinator of the Program)
St. Joseph is not only the Saint Patron of the Universal Church, but also one of main patrons of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (SCJ) and a Saint Patron of Kasanag Daughters Foundation, Inc. (KDF). Each year, on March 19, the foundation holds a special celebration, which starts with the Holy Eucharist and ends with a simple party. As usual, the celebration is attended by beneficiaries of the foundation, staff, board members, former daughters, benefactors, SCJ priests and friends. The purpose of this is to honor their patron and thank him for his protection. This year, Fr. Robertus Sutopo, who is in charge of the foundation, invited Fr. Francis Pupkowski, the Regional Superior of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, to preside this celebration. In his homily, delivered in the Visayan dialect, Fr. Francis reflected on the person of St. Joseph and his qualities, which made him to be called “a righteous man.”
Saint Joseph
Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). He wasn’t rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph’s genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as “son of David,” a royal title used also for Jesus.
We know Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He planned to divorce Mary according to the law but he was concerned for her suffering and safety. He knew that women accused to adultery could be stoned to death, so he decided to divorce her quietly and not expose her to shame or cruelty (Matthew 1:19-25).
We know Joseph was man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary as his wife. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).
We know Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” (Luke 4:22)
We know Joseph respected God. He followed God’s commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus’ birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.
Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus’ public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.
Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus’ public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.
Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice.
There is much we wish we could know about Joseph — where and when he was born, how he spent his days, when and how he died. But Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was — “a righteous man” (Matthew 1:18).
SCJ Philippines Region 