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.