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 Sr. Margaret Lacson, MM
Akemashite Omefeto Gonzaimasu. [Congratulations, the New Year has opened.] You hear this phrase any where you go in Japan during the first days of the year.
The beginning of the New Year marks the most important holiday here in Japan. The Japanese prepare their homes for this event. They decorate their house with special New Year decorations hanging in their cars.
By Bo Sanchez
Be forwarned.
The greatest calamity in this world is about to happen.
Two women dropped by my office one day and said, “Bo, we’re thinking of putting you on TV.”
“On TV? Uh...should I sit or stand on it?” I inquired. "No, no, no,” they groaned, “You’ll appear in a program!”
By Ivan de la Fuente
It was the night before Christmas. Yet save for our Yuletide trimmings, the laughter of our neighbors and the clanging of a nearby church’s bells, in our house it was anything but Christmas. I was in grade four then, the night when I was introduced to drugs, it was my brother who handed me my first stick of marijuana. I accepted it because I wanted to be closer to him. Ever since he made friends with the village bums, we started growing apart from each other. This left me feeling alone, dejected and lacking in self-confidence.
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.
ELIZABETH YEAN SIN LIM was a Columban Lay Missionary assigned in Suva, Fiji. She died of hepatitis at the age of 24 while on mission. Her parents who were not Christians went to Fiji for her funeral where they saw for the first time what Elizabeth had been doing and why. Her grieving father wrote this letter to her after her death.
Dear Yon Shin,
Yesterday, in the Catholic Church you used to attend, your Mom and Dad were baptized with the names Mary and Odem. The death of a child digs a grave in the hearts of parents. But why we don't want to forget you quickly or turn your picture back to front, I don't know.
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 Gloria Canama
Gloria Canama, a Columban Filipina lay missionary working in Pakistan, shares her story of journeying with the women of Pakistan.
Recently I had a privilege of accompanying six Punjabi women to the Columban parish of Matli, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. This was part of a week long women’s Mission Exchange Programme organized by the Columban Fathers in Pakistan. Not so long ago, it would have been impossible to organize such a programme for women. You would hear the following remarks: How could a woman spend a week away from home? Who would do the washing and ironing of clothes? Who would be there to serve the men? This year six women form the Columban parish of Shadbagh and Skeikhupura went to Matli and six Parkari Kolhi women from Matli went to the Punjab. On the journey the women were excited and some were apprehensive. For some it was their first time being away from home. It was a long and tiring 18 hours journey by train. As the train moved on and on, we got to know each other through telling a little of our life stories and sharing jokes. “Where is Matli?” “What time do we arrive there?” asked those who got restless. It was Teresa’s first train trip, it was a big relief when we eventually arrived safely in Matli.
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.
In some villages in southern Ghana, our Filipinos workers who used to pass by there were annoyed by many mestisos and mestisas calling to them, “Dad Dad, why? why did you leave me and my mother?” Private investigations were made and it was found out that those villages along the roads were constructed by foreign contractors a few years back. Yes, really Dad, why did you leave them?
