In his message for the 48th World Communications Day, the Pope stressed the ever vital role of communication to humanity. His focus is summed up in the question “And who is my neighbor?”, as we can look at communication in terms of our being “neighborly”. In these modern times, he particularly focuses on globalization and the developments in travel and communications technology, which seemed to make it easier for people to be neighbors. The Pope also gave credit to the Internet as one of the unprecedented technological advances by mankind, which “offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. “
But although this digital age have contributed significantly in terms of bringing people closer together, there still exists this “ scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor”, as Pope puts it. The speed of the information transmitted relatively exceeds our capacity to reflect and decide, which impedes our proper self-expression. He said that with the digital media, we are exposed to various opinions, but it also enables us to be selective about the information that confirms our own wishes, ideas and interests. He notes that there are still people who lack access to this communication advancement, and therefore run the risk of being left behind.
Pope Francis then challenges us to be reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is not enough for the Samaritan to go near the man he finds half-dead on the side of the road, he also takes responsibility for him. Similarly, in order for us to be a good neighbor, “it is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters.” We need to be personally engaged, “as this digital highway is teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation and hope.” By means of the internet, the church doors are kept open so that people can enter and the Gospel can reach everyone.
He qualifies an effective Christian witness as someone who does not bombard people with religious messages, but is in encounter with others in an effort to willingly dialogue on their doubts and questions. To dialogue, means to believe the “other” has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective without renouncing our own ideas and traditions.
In conclusion, Pope Francis referred back to the Good Samaritan, where the wounds of the injured man were tended with oil and wine. Our communications will then be “a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts. May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful neighbors to those wounded and left on the side of the road.”
The Holy Father’s message is entitled Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter and is traditionally published coinciding the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers. The 48th World Communications Day also falls on Ascension Sunday, June 1, 2014.
Let us celebrate!
With the celebration and deacon ordinations set for 16:00 on Friday and yesterday being a six hour travel day back to Cagayan de Oro now is the first real chance I have to sit down to write this. It’s now Sunday morning and I will have the 10:00 English Mass at our parish of the Immaculate Conception, only a 5 minute walk from here. I do hope to have this journal entry done and sent long before I leave for that.
Friday’s celebrations were simply marvelous! The parishioners of St. Isidore the Farmer did themselves proud in providing a wonderful liturgical atmosphere for the six deacons to be and their families. Obviously it was much easier for the 4 Filipinos to have their families attend the ordination. Though I’m not sure, I believe the majority of them come from the island of Mindanao since that’s where we have our major presence — although 2 of the 3 Filipino students I have come from near Manila on Luzon.
That’s not to say their Vietnamese brothers did not have family present and even though English and/or Cebuano are foreign to them, they seemed to fit right in to enjoy and watch their sons and brothers being ordained deacons by Archbishop Al Sudarso, scj, of Palembang, Indonesia.
I wish I had enough bandwidth to embed a short video I took at the start of the Mass. Friday marked the third day in a row where we had heavy rains during the late afternoon, usually between 15:00 and sunset. Friday saw the heaviest downpour though with less thunder and lightning. The roof of the new church is metal and does not have much, if any, soundproofing and the din the heavy downpour made in the church almost drowned out the singing and praying. Lucky the church has a good sound system that could rise above the deluge Mother Nature was dropping from the sky.
Bishop Emanuel Cabajar, CssR, of Pagadian concelebrated the Mass and preached. This time he did it in English. The Mass and ordinations took about 2 hours. Thanks to the rain the temperature in the church was rather comfortable. While we had fans near us the outlets have as yet been hooked up leaving the fans as mere decorations — thank goodness the rain cooled us down.
After Mass we returned to the old church which, like the other day, served as our dining hall with the same Pagadian catering service handling the reception. As with the two previous meals they served this one was heavy on meats and rice, but with no vegetables to speak of but at least two or three kinds of fruit, especially pineapple and watermelon. As we foreign guest have learned any celebration would be a disaster if roasted pig were not there in abundance. We had two for the crowd to devour. I went up once or twice to try to get a piece, but I couldn’t get near the action. Clearly the Filipinos love their roasted pork and nothing goes to waste!
I was wondering where the show would take place and soon learned it was going to be at the local school gym. Don’t think of a gym in our terms, this is more like a covered outdoor stadium with bleachers on one side, a roof covering the entire expanse with the sides left open — better to keep things cool for fans, players/actors alike.
We were also lucky the rains had stopped several hours before we headed over to the gym. You did have to watch where you walked once leaving the main road as it then became a dirt track. Once again, my smartphonecame in handy not for calling, but for seeing using its build in flashlight. As I’ve written before that has been one of its most useful features on my trips to India and the Philippines since calling is much too expensive.
As for the show itself the members of St. Isidore the Farmer’s parish and its many chapels did themselves proud. The show opened with an adult choir, that included our own Br. Yohanes Baptista Sismadi, scj, singing the Philippine national anthem. This choir would ma e another appearance during the course of the evening as one of the adult acts.
Immediately after the national anthem a prayer/dance was offered as the benediction for the evening. The dance would play the most important part of the evening’s entertainment. The show lasted about two hours and interspersed between some of the acts was a narration of the 25 year history of the SCJ presence in the Philippines. During the course of the show we had young girls (maybe between 8 and 10) come by with water and sweets for us to enjoy. As the SCJs were the honored guests we were seated in the front row on chairs in front of the bleachers and close to the stage — that made my taking photos with my iPhone rather easily.
Instead of adding more words, let me add a few photos of some of the acts. Note the teenagers performed many of the dances and I was amazed at the various routines they had to learn and how well they were able to carry them out. Of course, the little kids act was a scene stealer, especially one little girl who was soon lost as what to do and made up her own dance, including a long stint of simply sitting on the floor and waving her arms. I do know, parents, friends, parishioners and all the SCJS present went home with light hearts after such a delightful, and I do mean that, evening of entertainment. Dumalinao may not be Broadway or Hollywood, but on this night they don’t take a backseat to anyone.
By Fr. Tom Cassidy, scj
Dumalinao – Parish Feast and blessing of a new church
Parish Feast in Kumalarang
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.
First and Perpetual Profession of Vows
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.
SCJ Philippines Region 