May – June 2016
Entertaining Angels: the Dorothy Day Story
Martin Sheen plays Peter Maurin in this movie.
The world would become better off
if people tried to become better.
And people would become better
if they stopped trying to be better off.
– Peter Maurin, Co-founder of the Catholic Worker (1877 – 1949)
Read Peter Maurin: A Fool for Christ
Rose Hawthorne (1851 – 1926) in 1871
Daughter, wife, mother, convert, writer, widow and religious foundress
I tried to acquire a fondness for the very poor, and I finally came to like them very much if they were rather good. But I was not satisfied with liking them; I wanted to love all the poor whom I met.
– Servant of God Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (Mother Mary Alphonsa OP), Foundress of the Congregation of St Rose of Lima, known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
Sr Regina Marie of the Hawthorne Dominicans tells her vocation story
Alice von Hildebrand speaks about her late husband Dietrich von Hildebrand, a German Catholic philosopher and theologian and opponent of Hitler.
In life there are moments of darkness. There are periods of discouragement. There are times when we lose sight of the beauty of the sky for all the clouds. You may have to bear severe sickness, or deal with tremendous pain, or you may be disappointed in this or that. But remember, whatever difficulty you have to face, it will not last. It is only a cloud. For God has made each of us with a purpose.
Alice von Hildebrand, Made for Joy
A bust representing Blessed Marie of Oignies [Source]
These tears are my feast; they are my bread day and night; they feed my mind; rather than emptying and afflicting my head they bring satiety to my soul.
– Blessed Marie of Oignies, Mystic (d. 1213)
Fr Brendan Lovett
(Quoting Gregory Baum, Community and Identity):
‘If a community creates its identity and produces its national myth by relying exclusively on its own experience, it will never be able to make room for the other as other.’
The other will always be seen as enemy, rival, opponent. The only way to avoid this is to define ourselves dialogically from the start. Of course, the self-understanding of the other may be in need of critique. Then we have to reject their present self-understanding but we must relate to those moments within them which promote a self-understanding worthy of our respect and dialogue. The easiest way for us to develop authentic identity is through solidarity with those in other collectivities who are striving to articulate their identity in dialogical fashion, in openness to the demands of justice towards all groups.
– Fr Brendan Lovett, A Dragon Not for the Killing
The May-June 2002 issue of MISYON carries an interview with Fr Lovett about his book. He is a Columban priest from Ireland who first came to the Philippines in 1967. He has been teaching at the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies (IFRS), Quezon City, for many years.
Pietà, Malate Church, Manila
Unveiled in February 1995 to commemorate the 100,000 who died in the Battle of Manila, February 1945
In memory of the people of Malate who were killed during the Second World War and the five Columban priests who stayed with them and died with them.
The compassionate figure of Our Lady of Healing calls the Church to heal our crucified world, to walk with the poor and the oppressed, and to be the voice of those who cry for justice.
Mary, who inspired the women of Malate, represents the women of all times; women bring life into the world and most understand the sacredness of life and the insanity of war. With them, we pledge to work for a world without war where all people will live in that peace which Christ promised.
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios February 2, 1997
L to R:Frs Lalor, Kelly, Douglas, Fallon Monaghan and Heneghan
The five Columban priests in Malate Parish, all Irish, died during the Battle of Manila. Frs Peter Fallon, John Heneghan, Patrick Kelly and Joseph Monaghan were taken away by the Japanese and never seen again. The exact date(s) of their killing and place of burial is unknown but their death anniversaries are observed on 10 February. The fifth priest in Malate, Fr John Lalor was killed by a shell in Malate School, which was being used as a hospital, on 13 February. He is buried there. Fr Vernon Francis Douglas, a New Zealander, was tortured and killed by the Japanese in Paete, Laguna, in 1943 and later taken away. His body has never been found. His death anniversary is observed on 27 July.
The Government of the Philippines has an excellent online resource: 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Manila.