On May 14, 2014, the San Isidore Parish in Kumalarang celebrated its 33rd annual Feast of the Patron. This year the celebration was connected with the 25th anniversary of presence of SCJ priests. The main celebrant was the Vicar General Fr. Totong Gente. The Eucharist was followed by blessing of the new formation house and kindergarten, lunch and cultural presentation made by different zones of the parish.

On May 13, 2014, six brothers on temporary vows and five Novices made their final and first profession of religious vows. The ceremony, which opened a week-long celebration of 25th Anniversary of the SCJ presence in the Philippines, took place in the parish church in Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur. The Vows were accepted by the Regional Superior, Fr. Francis Pupkowski, scj.

Margosatubig was one of the first places of the SCJ presence in the Philippines. Even the SCJs left this parish more than ten years ago, they are still remembered there and have many fans. On May 12, 2014, a group of friends from Margosatubig organized a special party commemorating the 25th Anniversary of their presence in the Philippines. Thank you for this wonderful celebration and for being a part of our journey! We love you too!

Yesterday I was invited to come with Fr. Frank Pupkowski, scj, and Fr. Khoa Nguyen,scj, to Dansolhon for the 08:00 Mass to be followed by the blessing of the new convent that  will  be  the  home  to  3  SCJs.  First  off  I  must  explain  to  you  that  here  in  the Philippines a convent or also called a convento as they say applies to both a convent for nuns and a rectory for priests.

At present Jesus Nazareno functions as a Chaplaincy that I can best describe as a sub-parish, it currently has 35 out stations, and if you add them all up about 1100 families. It is staffed by Fr. Jan Krzysuok, scj, and Fr. Elpido Luza, Jr., scj. Fr. Jan is a missionary from  Poland  while  Fr.  Elpido  is  a  native  Filipino.  They  will  soon  be  joined  by  Br.Yohanes Sismadi, scj, who is a missionary from Indonesia. As you can see this a real international SCJ community.  According to Fr. Frank, the regional superior, though it is a chaplaincy,Jesus Nazareno really is functioning as a parish.

By: Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ