By Fr Donal Halliden MSSC

On a late summer day in August 1940, while driving my mother to town, my eldest brother, William, already an ordained Columban, suddenly said, “If Donal wants to go to Dalgan he might as well go this year.”  Dalgan was the major seminary of the Columbans in Ireland.  I was still in high school but I had passed the matriculation examination of the National University of Ireland and on this basis I would be accepted in Dalgan.

Five Vocations in a Family

If my mother was surprised, she did not show it but I do remember her saying, “Anyone who wants to serve the Church cannot be selfish.”  My father still had to be consulted and he readily gave his consent even though I was the fourth of his five sons wishing to enter the priesthood, three of us as Columbans and the fourth as a secular for our diocese.  A fifth vocation was to come to the family later when our younger sister, Maureen, entered the local convent of the Sisters of Mercy.

By Susan Severino

Susan “Yet” Severino is a close friend of the editor. She comes from Silay, Negros Occidental but at present works in Canada.  In the recent past she has had a difficult encounter with cancer.  She shared her thoughts privately with Fr. Niall O’Brien who asked her permission to share them with our readers.  These will bring light to many who are also traveling through this dark valley.

By Gee-Gee O. Torres, assistant editor

Before I left for Manila to attend the National Congress of the Laity last year, I received an email from our editor, Fr Niall O’Brien, who was on vacation in Ireland.  He said we would feature Fr Robert Reyes in Misyon.  Fr Niall sent me some materials for the article but we needed a personal story to go with it.  Since I was on my way to Manila, I decided to visit and interview Fr Robert in his parish in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

The Interview

This was my first time to interview a prominent figure.  I was nervous.  I had to ask a friend to accompany me.  I waited outside his office and after a few minutes of bearing the agony of anticipation, a man came out and invited me in.  It was no other than Fr Reyes himself.  He was very accommodating. During the interview I was just like having a casual conversation with a friend.  Thirty minutes was all I got for he had another appointment at 5:00 pm so I had to get down to work right away.

Fr Robert Reyes, popularly known as The Running Priest, is from Malabon, the eldest in a family of four, studied AB Philosophy in Ateneo de Manila University, joined the San Jose Seminary and ordained into priesthood in 1982.  Presently he is the parish priest of the Holy Sacrifice Church in UP Diliman.

Becoming almost an Athlete

Running wasn’t really Fr Robert’s sports since childhood.  However when he contracted tuberculosis a year before the joined the seminary, his doctor told him that if he really wanted to recover and stay away from TB he must become almost an athlete.  He had to develop his cardiovascular abilities.  “I had to learn to bike, to run and to swim regularly.  In the seminary there was a swimming pool, lots of open space for running and there was a bicycle.  So talagang doon, sineryoso ko na. From 1970 up to the present, I run, I swim, I bike,” said Fr Reyes.

By Ma. Catalina O. Torres

Love is not as simple as giving roses and chocolates on Valentine’s  Day.  Nor is it as easy as cutting red cartolinas into hearts.  It entails a lot of sacrifices, too.  Here is a simple story of a woman who braved through the storms because of her love for her family.

I met my husband, Raul, in his uncle’s house in Quezon City, where I was boarding with a friend and co-teacher in Maryknoll Grade School.  He came to visit his father who was recuperating from a heart ailment.  His stay was so short that we didn’t even get introduced to one another.