By Fr. Francisco Hoare, SSC
Sr. Pushpa is a 30 year old Missionary Sister of the Society of Mary. She is the first Indian Sister from Naleba, Labasa. Her father, Arjun, presented Pushpa, her three brothers and younger sister Shakuntula to Fr. McCaffey for instruction and baptism when Pushpa was about 7 years old. She joined the SMSM order in 1985. She has been appointed to work as a missionary in the Philippines. Fr. Frank Hoare interviews her here.
By Fr. Tom Gonzales, MSP
Msgr. Tomas Gonzales is from Baliuag Bulacan and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Manila. Having served in Tondo and Pasay and later as Pastor in Alabang and Sta. Cruz, he then volunteered as a missionary to Papua New Guinea and then at present in Hong Kong as an associate member of the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP- is the official missionary arm of our Philippine Catholic Church). Here he tells of the two different worlds he has come to encounter. GUTBAI is the Pidgin word for 'Goodbye’, the GUDE for ‘Hello’ and ‘Good Day,’
By Fr. Edgar S. Saguinsin
Could I be one of them? As I watched Serge laid in his grace, I have to say, I felt a level of pride. It was I who recruited him to join the labor union! Serge stood head the shoulder over the crowd of union members and officers as the most inspiring of them all! His story hints that this man might be a saint even though a controversial one.
Looking back I recall my conversation with Serge in 1973 at the Catholic Church rectory of La Carlota City where I was the parish priest. We talked about the plight of the sugar workers. It was not hard to convince Serge that one of the most effective ways of helping to improve the economic and social conditions of the sugar workers in Negros was to organize even under Martial Law. But we needed qualified labor union organizers, I told him, “I wonder if I could be one” Serge said. That remark started the history of Serge’s involvement with the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW). We agreed that he would apply as an organizers and I would sponsor him.
By Ma. Ceres Doyo
“True to form, true to form,” a young Jesuit sobbed when he learned of the death of his friend and fellow Jesuit Brother Richard “Richie” Michael Fernando, 26. As Richie lived, so did he die. He live working among the victims of violence, he died in the midst of them.
By Ariel Presbitero
On morning during one of my house visitations I encountered a very interesting question that went like this: “What is the color of God?” I paused and thought a while wondering where was this coming from? I never heard that God has color. As far as I know, I learned from my childhood catechism that man and woman were created by God according to His own likeness and image. It didn’t say what is the color of God. Does God really have a color? Is He white? Black, Brown, Yellow? Is He a mixture of all these colors?
BY Nerso C. Lujan
San Dionisio Iloilo – Identical twins made history when they were ordained priest in this town 112 km. northwest of Iloilo City.
Frederic I and Frederic II Lauricio, 33, took their vows a priest of the Society of the Divine Word in a ceremony officiated by Jaro Archbishop Alberto Piamonte.
By Fr. Ferdie Samar
(Part Two)
My stay in Koibuga was short-lived. But it was in Koibuga that I witness to big procession on two different occasions. I say big because almost the entire tribe joined. It was however a different procession from what we have in the Philippines because instead of religious images or statues, the people paraded pigs, cassowaries (a large flightless bird), horses, cows and even crocodiles for “compensation”.
Compensation, next to bride-price-exchange is a common event here in Papua New guinea when a tribe pays another tribe for an offenses or damage made by a member of the tribe like an injury, destruction of property, even death (intentional or otherwise). Failure to compensate would mean a tribal battle.
In July 1943 a Wellington – born Columban priest disappeared from Pililla, his lakeside parish 60 kilometers from Manila. The mystery of his disappearance and presumed death has never been explained and his body never found. Patricia Brooks wrote of his life and what was known of his arrest by the Japanese military police. That story was reprinted in MISYON and read by Sr Margherita in Rome, who at about the same time, read an article in an American Magazine published for expatriate Filipinos from the town of Paete. The author of this article was Marie Pruden. It didn’t take long for connections to be made.
The article by Marie Pruden in the Paete Journal asked the identity of the strange European priest who once saved the lives of some villagers. “This white priest may be more than a hero, he could be a saint! If he indeed was martyred, then the town owes him a memorial.”
Sr Margherita realized the “strange European priest” was the same person mentioned in Misyon and suddenly remembered as a child seeing Fr Douglas.
By Sr. Ma. Fe Sobrevega, MMS
Sr. Fe is from New Lucena, Iloilo. She is the youngest of six children. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1956. After taking the board exam, she joined the Medical Mission sisters in Philadelphia, U.S.A. She was one of the first Filipinos to join this congregation.
By Fr. Luis Sabarre, OMI
I remember the first Christmas I spent away from home in 1982, when I was sent to a small town to say the midnight mass. I thought that Christmas would be the same as I used to experience in my own place back home in the Philippines. I really missed the Christmas Carols I had learned and had sung when I was a small boy. I felt homesick for the first time.
