UNO-R hosts OAR Pastoral Apostolate Meeting for Negros Island Cluster

Bacolod City, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL–The Parish Priests, Chaplains and Campus Ministers from University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos; Colegio de San Nicolas de Tolentino-Recoletos, Talisay; Colegio de Sto. Tomas-Recoletos, San Carlos City; San Pedro Academy-Recoletos, Caidiocan, Valencia; and San Pedro Academy, Valencia, were gathered for a meeting in UNO-R at the VP-Academics Conference Room on July 25, 2019 to discuss the proposed programs and activities for the Celebration of the Extraordinary Missionary Month in October 2019.   The meeting was presided by Fray Edgar Tubio, OAR, Head of the Section for Ministerial and Mission Apostolates of the Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno.

The meeting started with a prayer, followed by a short getting-to-know session. Then, Fray Tubio discussed to the group the call of the General Secretariat for the Apostolate of the Order of Augustinian Recollects to mobilize the OAR communities to prepare plans and programs for the celebration of the Extraordinary Mission Month in October.

The highlights of the meeting were 1) Promotion of Missions, through short video clippings, that may be played in schools and parishes;  2) familiarization with the Guidelines for the Mission Apostolate of the Augustinian Recollects (OAM); 3) Promotion of  monthly celebration of the Mission Day in parishes and schools that will help in raising funds for the Mission Project; 4) Creation of  mission groups in the campus ministry in schools and in parishes that will serve as anchor groups for any mission-related activities;  5) Facilitate events, such as cultural (concerts, competitions), sports (fun run, tournaments or matches), commercial (garage sale) and religious (missionary vigil, jamboree, pilgrimage, mission-sending ceremonies for volunteers, mission groups and missionaries encounter); and 6) Launching of the Extraordinary Mission Month in parishes and schools.

Fray Tubio also shared with the assembly the rationale of the Extraordinary Mission Month. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and President of the Supreme Committee of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, was commissioned by Pope Francis to spearhead this month-long celebration. Cardinal Filoni said, “At the heart of this initiative, which involves the Universal Church, will be prayer, testimonies, and reflections on the centrality of the missio ad gentes as a permanent state of being sent out for the first evangelization (Mt. 28:19) The obligation of personal and communal conversion to Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and alive in the Church, will renew the fervor and the passion for giving witness to the Gospel of life and the joy of Easter, through both word and actions (Lk. 24:46-49).”

Present during the meeting were Fray Cristituto Palomar, OAR, Joey Jolito, Jamicha Trujillo, and Aura Mae Salanap from UNO-R CMO; Robit Cuevas and Reymar Macatual from CST-R, CMO; Fray Jay Parilla, OAR, Chaplain of St. Vincent Ferrer Quasi Parish, Apo Island, Negros Oriental; Fray Randy Castillo, OAR, Fray Emilio Jaruda, OAR; and Fray Niño Cesar Ruiz, OAR, from San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish, Talisay City;  Fray Roderick Deguit, OAR and  Melinda Cabaguing from Parish of  Our Lady of the Abandoned and San Pedro Academy, Valencia, Negros Oriental; Fray Excel Saycon, OAR and Christian James Tindog from SPA-R, Caidiocan, Valencia, Negros Oriental; and Fray Cirilo Andan, OAR from Our Lady of Lourdes Quasi Parish, Ayungon, Negros Oriental. 

(news by Aura Mae Salanap).