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
Today is the last day of the month and tomorrow we begin May with the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and in much of the world its May Day, which compares to our Labor Day celebration back in the States.
After class yesterday the students told me they were going out to play soccer. The players were all Vietnamese plus two from the formation staff. I learned that soccer is not popular with Filipinos, or at least with the three enrolled in our program. I’m not sure what is the most popular sport but as I mentioned in an earlier entry basketball may well be.
Unlike India, where I found at least three channels devoted to cricket, I have not found a similar local TV dedication to a…
View original post 389 more words
SCJ Formation House, Cagayan de Oro
As noted previously, Fr. Tom Cassidy is in the Philippines for the next few weeks, teaching English. The following are recent reflections that he wrote for our province blog:
April 25, 2014: SCJ Formation House, Cagayan de Oro:
It is now 09:00 and later today I will meet with the students so I’ll save talking about them until tomorrow. I’ll try to explain the building complex that will be my home until early June. This is indeed a formation community as there are three levels of formation that take place here before the students move on to the novitiate and then to Manila for their theological studies. Here are the levels:
1. Postulants — these men are preparing to enter the novitiate the program in most provinces lasts for a year.
2. Aspirants — these men are studying philosophy at Xavier University and will…
View original post 1,067 more words
Dehon House, Manila
It is now late afternoon as I am completing my first day in the Philippines. Today is a recovery day from my travels and tomorrow I’ll fly down to Mindanao to begin my time as English teacher. Actually, if I am correct, it would be better to say Assistant English Teacher. As I understand my job it will be to work on pronunciation with the students, but time will tell as to what my real duties will be. I did come prepared with several texts thanks to Kelly Kornacki who heads the ESL program (English as a Second Language)…
View original post 832 more words
SCJ Philippines Region 