MANILA PRIORY NEWSLETTER

S t . S c h o l a s t i c a ’ s P r i o r y 2 5 6 0 L e o n G u i n t o S t r e e t M a l a t e , M a n i l a , P h i l i p p i n e s

Vol. III No. 2 Feb-Mar 2013

St. Scholastica’s College participates in the 'One

Billion Rising'; a Campaign to end violence

against women and girls

On Valentine's Day Thursday Feb. 14, 2013

at St. Scholastica's College, we all had the joy

to participate in a campaign as we danced at the

campus ground as part of a global campaign dubbed

“One Billion Rising”, to end violence and poverty

against women and children.

The College, High School and Grade School

Units, together with the General Services Staff and

Office Personnel all went out of their hubs, nooks

and crannies to sway and groove to the beat of a

dance that symbolically frees all the abused and puts

an end to the totally inhumane treatment that one in

every three girls would suffer in her lifetime. The

opening remark was given by Lilit, from the Institute

of Women studies, calling on each one of us to vow

to end violence against women and children.

“End violence against women and girls

now.” Such was the statement shouted in chorus by

the Scholastican community to express its

commitment and participation in the global advocacy

that aims to put an end to the horrors that women and

children from around the world suffer from. Sr. Mary

Thomas Prado, OSB, President and Prof. Virginia

Fornias, Vice President for Academic Affairs, led the

entire community in a strike, dance and call for an

end to any form of abuse against women--domestic

violence, human trafficking and rape among others.

The women, especially the younger ones, and all

those who love and care for them joined and stood

and danced for a future that is safer and better.

MANILA PRIORY Page 2

With spirited hearts, the Scholastican

community danced to the campaign’s local theme

song “Isyang Bilyong Babaeng Babangon” to end the

horrifying abuse and molestations done to women

and girls every year. Mother Mary John Mananzan

OSB also spoke calling for a stop to all forms of

violence against women and children.

The occasion was also graced by Ms.

Monique Wilson, a celebrity, a woman, a Scholasti-

can. Ms. Wilson together with Ms. Eve Ensler, the

proponent of One Billion Rising, actively enjoin the

Philippines in an international pro-woman campaign

which started 15 years ago, every Valentine’s Day.

Ms. Eve Ensler spoke and said, “I rise with

people of good conscience to stand up against

intolerable acts of violence against women around the

world.” She added that the global event is also

impacting legislation and mindset citing legislative

efforts in Britain for universal sex education.

Thousands of women and children in various

cities in the country danced in the streets, in malls

and other places to express support for the One

Billion Rising Campaign which also counts Australia

and New Zealand as the first countries "to rise" for

the campaign.

"The pressure of One Billion Rising is forcing

these people to have to say they're going to do

something about it," she said. "I think we all know

that we've reached a moment where it has to stop, its

enough!"

Ensler is convinced that the global reach of

One Billion Rising has achieved its goal of raising

awareness of the worldwide problem of violence

against women and will inspire leaders to act.

The propagation of the campaign to stop

violence against women and children was well

understood by our Scholastican students and

everyones’ participation in the dance was marked

with such gusto and jubilation.

For this year, St. Scholastica’s College,

Manila withheld its classes to join a bigger and nobler

classroom which is the world, and to learn the bigger

lesson that is human dignity.

By: Sr. Lynet Ohala, OSB

Congratulations to all Scholasticans for this brave work of advocacy.

Page 3 Vol. III No. 2 Feb-Mar 2013

It was a general assembly of vocation

promoters from faraway Mati to Manila and nearby

stations. February 18 found also 18 of them in

Subiaco Conference Hall, ready to listen to Sr. Mary

Paul Baul, OSB, Vocation Directress. She welcomed

the participants, gave the introduction, and presented

Mother Prioress Adelaida Ygrubay, OSB as

inspirational speaker.

The poem “God’s Rosebud” opened Mother

Adelaida’s talk reminding us that it is God -not we –

who plants the seed and creates vocation. We are

only instruments, ours is only to nurture what he ini-

tially grows. As such, we are to develop a culture of

vocation and discernment. With this is a challenge to

live according to our promises, to internalize the

values of our life. Through personal holiness do we

then become credible enough to attract vocations.

The whole day after this message was the

vocation animators’ reporting, which could finish

ahead of schedule. Some strategies of promotion

reported and found common to almost all were

Life-Direction seminars, parish-hopping, talks and

faith-sharing, recollections and campus jamborees.

With the reporting over, the lively exchange

of experiences, evaluation, and recommendations

took a great deal of our time. We were happy

however, having been able to come up unanimously

with two significant proposals to be sent to the Priory

Chapter.

Off we drove to St. Paul de Chartess, Taytay,

Rizal the next day to listen to Sr. Ann Kristine, SPC

Vocation directress. She shared with us some voca-

tion promotion practices in their congregation. Aside

from her talk, we learned more about their life and

work from viewing their very impressive museum.

Grateful to the SPC sisters for our enriching

experience, we proceeded to the 16-hectare Pestaño

farm, where we took our sumptuous lunch of native

dishes and varied fruits. Before leaving their lovely

eating place, we prayed for and bless the Pestaño

couple in song.

Last stop after our visit to the still-being-

constructed chapel was the house of memorabilia for

Ensign Phillip Pestaño, the couple’s son, the

murdered navy officer whose death was made to

appear as suicide. The celebrated case will hopefully

be concluded soon. For this we promised the Pestaños

our prayer…and to the Lord our thanks.

By: Sr. Lucy Togle, OSB

MANILA PRIORY Page 4

On February 14, 2013 some 50 sisters,

guests, friends, staff and workers gathered at the

Singalong-Maligaya property of the Community of

Benedictine Sisters for the groundbreaking

ceremony for the proposed Socio-Pastoral

Apostolate Center which will house the Tuluyan

Shelter for Street families and the street children

Outreach of the Priory House community.

M. Adelaida Ygrubay delivered an inspiring

message and led the ritual for abundance, the

lowering of the capsule, putting the first spadeful of

earth and blessing the land area for the building.

By: Sr. Cecille Ido, OSB

Page 5 Vol. III No. 2 Feb-Mar 2013

The Sisters in the Socio-Pastoral Apostolate

from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao had their national

gathering at St. Scholastica’s Center of Spirituality,

Tagaytay, from February 15- 17,2013.

This year’s NATIONAL GATHERING had two

parts. 1. APPRECIATING THE SECOND HALF OF

LIFE AND 2. SPA ASSEMBLY PROPER .

APPRECIATING THE SECOND HALF OF

LIFE was taken on Feb. 15 and 16 with Sr. Leticia

Garcia, D.C. as the resource person. Through her

lectures,videos, stories, funny jokes, insights and

wisdom gleaned from her own life’s experiences, she led

the 23 Sisters present into a deeper understanding and

appreciation of themselves and others. With the use of a

visual aid “THE NEW MAP OF ADULT LIFE “ she

briefly reviewed what happens in the early adult life to

midlife psycho-physiologically, psycho-socially and

psycho-spiritually.

She aptly described them as follows: the 20’S

AS TRYOUT TWENTIES/ the 30’s as TURBULENT

THIRTIES/ the 40’s as FLOURISHING FORTIES/

and the 50’s as FLAMING FIFTIES...its in the Second

Adulthood, 6o’s and above in life’s journey that the true

self emerges more clearly, the self that is LOVE,

well-balanced and compassionate.

THE SPA ASSEMBLY PROPER

The SPA assembly proper took place on February

16 with 27 sisters present. After its opening ritual, Mother

Prioress Adelaida gave her inspirational talk. She

acknowledged that in the midst of so much work to be

done and the reality of diminishment of energies of many

of the SPA Sisters, they keep going because they already

have met God. And because they already have met God,

there is really nothing to fear nor lose anything anymore.

She also said that as front liners of the Congregation it is

very important to keep in mind that it is the deepened

relationship with God and with one another as

Benedictines that gives quality to their presence and work

with the people.

The present status of the SPA as a Priory

Implementing Arm was given by Sr. Cecille Ido, OSB,

SPA chairperson. She also said that the time has now

come for SPA to THINK BIG because it had gone through

many and rich experiences in the past two or three

decades. Sr. Cecille presented the documentary film of her

visit to Germany last December 2012 to raise funds for

the street children and soon to rise SPA BUILDING.

By: Sr. Alicia Sobrevinas, OSB

Mo. Adelaida Ygrubay, OSB Sr. Leticia Garcia, D.C.

MANILA PRIORY Page 6

MBS of the Manila Priory holding the treasures of

the community in their own way gathered together on a

weekend, February 23-25 to share experiences of their own

work and on the related topics of the talk given to them on

their first day of gathering.

1st day was held at the Friedenshaus Hotel-School,

Corazon Aquino Conference Room. Opening Prayer led by

Sr. Shirley Roble, OSB and an inspiring talk of

Mo. Adelaida Ygrubay,OSB was addressed to each and

every treasurer. Each one really felt the importance of her

duties and responsibilities to the Sisters and the community.

It was followed by a talk given by Atty. Domingo Frigillana

III on the Implementing Guidelines on Magna Carta of

Women and Kasambahay Bill. The Magna Carta was an RA

issued in 2009 and has long been in the political discussion.

The talk was very helpful since some of our schools and

hospital are experiencing the difficulties in the

implementation of this RA. The Kasambahay Bill is

something new, though many of its provisions are already

being done in many of our CBS stations. Implementing

guidelines are soon to be released. Snacks and lunch were

generously served in a very fine and excellent way at the

Friedenshaus Hotel School.

In the afternoon, another guest speaker, Mr. Jose

Tan of KPS Outsourcing, gave a very lengthy yet substantial

presentation on Fraud Awareness, Detection and Prevention

that made the sisters very attentive. Among the many

helpful points he mentioned, very significant was the value

of listening to our personnel in order to help prevent the

happening of fraud.

The second day of the meeting was held in the

beach house of Mrs. Reynoso in Matabungkay, Batangas. It

was practically spent in sharing of the experiences and

concerns connected to the implementation of the Special

Leave Benefits of Women and the new Kasambahay bill.

Also heard from the sisters were the individual views

regarding the survey on the possibility of turning over the

community income while receiving a monthly subsidy from

the Procurator. The last part of the afternoon session was the

giving of reminders of S. Ana Maria to all the Treasurers.

In place of the Vespers, we had a surprise liturgy in

honor of S. Ana Maria as she ends in May, her nine long

years of loving service as Procurator to be the new superior

in the Tacloban Hospital Community. Program followed in

the evening where the sisters expressed their love and

gratitude through messages, songs and tokens. Video-taped

messages from significant sisters who were not present were

also shown. The sumptuous dinner was taken care of by S.

Noella and S. Shirley with two women helpers in the kitchen.

The heartwarming evening program ended with Compline.

The next day, February 25, was a holiday so the

Sisters still had a chance to have a dip in the sea despite the

low tide. Some found varied ways to enjoy the place by

walking along the beach, lying on the sofa and sharing light

moments and conversations with one another. The group left

for Manila before lunch time.

As S. Ana Maria uttered, for once she did not have

to worry about anything for this gathering of Treasurers. For

truly, she has taken care of all our needs to make every single

gathering special and fruitful all these years that she has been

the Procurator. Thank you very much, S. Ana Maria! We will

miss your warm, down-to-earth and lively welcoming ways

in the Procurator’s Office. God bless you as you say yes to

your new assignment.

By: Sr. Ma. Teresita Lafuente, OSB

Sr. Vida Mones, OSB

Page 7 Vol. III No. 2 Feb-Mar 2013

ANGELES February 8 was Employees and Service Awards

Day. Holy mass in the covered court celebrated by Fr.

Aljim was followed by the program of polosa and

musical numbers rendered by students and finally the

service awards to 39 faculty, staff and maintenance

personnel. Some awardees received only the monetary

award from the PTA because they had availed of the

retire-rehire scheme which brought their years of service

to zero. Longest service awardee was Angelo Datu for 35

years of service. He has been in the service of the school

from the time he was a student under the old sisters. The

much awaited raffle of prizes ended the day.

BACOLOD On February 25, the sisters had their Lenten Alay

Kapwa with a visit to the St. Vincent Home for the

Elderly managed by the DC Sisters. The sisters brought

snacks and gifts for the elderly. The DC Sisters

entertained the sisters at their Magnificat Hall in

appreciation for the renovated old piano donated to them.

TAAL

World Day of Consecrated Life and Feast of the

Candelaria: The sisters participated in the

Archdiocesan celebration of the “ World Day of

Consecrated Life”, the Feast of the Presentation of

the Lord (Feb. 2) by joining the ARAL officers and

members in a pilgrimage tour of selected churches in

the province. The ARAL tour group was specially

treated with free lunch by the community of St.

Bridget College, Batangas city who were having their

centennial celebrated. The day of prayer for

Consecrated Life is considered the greatest church

event every year by the Archdiocese. We prayed for

Mo. Vicaress Sr. Lumen Gloria Dungca, OSB and

all feastday celebrants and for all their intentions.

3rd Visit of the Relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

in Batangas: On the 5th of February, St. Therese

gathered us all Religious of the Archdiocese in her

Archdiocesan Shrine in Sta. Teresita, Batangas.

Besides the Eucharistic Celebration, there were

conferences leading to prayer. Archbishop Ramon

Argueles, DD shared his reflection on St. Therese’

satatement, “ My Vocation Is Love.”

Maligayang Pagtatapos: Twenty eight women from

CDC partner communities gratefully and joyfully

received their Certificates of Completion after seven

days (4 weekends) intensive training on Cosmetology

and Skin care held at the CDC training Center. The

women leaders prepared a simple program and

merienda for all in their honor. This training was

facilitated by Madam Chit from the PDSWD in

partnership with CDC.

TACLOBAN HOSPITAL

Feb. 7 was the 48th Foundation of the DWH. It

was celebrated at a simple get-together of all the staff of

the hospital. With the theme “DWH SALUTES OUR

PRIME MOVERS – thank you for molding us to the

center of excellence” the administration took the chance

to recognize the loyalty of those staff with tenure of 10 to

35 years of service at DWH. Eucharistic Celebration was

held at 5:30 p.m. at the St. Benedict Hall followed by the

recognition and awarding of certificates to the deserving

staff. This was the first time the hospital took the

initiative of introducing this acknowledgment to the

employees.

TAGAYTAY

February 25 was the celebration of the Second

Tagaytay Youth Day with the theme: “Pananampalataya:

Isabuhay ang Salita, Kabataan, Join Na!” This was held at

the Divine Word Seminary (SVD) and was made possible

through concerted effort of Tagaytay Religious

Association (TRA). Fr. Noel Sumagui, SDB was the guest

speaker and the main celebrant at the Holy Eucharist and

the SVD priests concelebrated with him. Sr. Nicole

represented our community at the whole day celebration.

Sisters from different congregations and some invited

priests from nearby places were also in attendance. There

were about 2,000 youth participants. Our community

contributed cash for the food of the participants.

Fr. Samuel Agcaracar, SDB, President of the TRA, gave

the closing remarks and word of thanks to everyone.

Our Wishes and Prayers for

The newly elected Pope Francis I

March 13, 2013

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

of Argentina

76 years old

First Latin American Pope

First Jesuit Pope

266th Pope of the

Roman Catholic Church

MANILA PRIORY Page 8

We express our gratitude to all who have

contributed to this newsletter.

Sr. Virginia Ferino, OSB Priory Secretariat

Maria Anabel Alcaraz Layout Editor

Sr. Therese Bulatao, OSB To Rome, Italy for Studies March 9, 2013

Sr. Marie Indok Song, OSB

From Daegu, Korea for Studies

February 25, 2013 -

Last February 2, 2013, the Community of

Benedictine Sisters of the Divine Word Hospital had a

Vocation Search-In. We gave out letters of invitation to

friends, single ladies from the hospital and to government

offices. Of those who were invited, seven ladies

answered. At first, they watched a video presentation of

our congregation, then we shared our vocation stories.

The three states of life were also presented to them so as

to guide them as to what state of life they would like to

pursue: married life, single blessedness or to be a

religious sister. Each one should discern her own

vocation to make life more meaningful. Religious Life is

not forced: it needs a personal generous response. We

gave brochures to them and the seed of religious life was

shared with them. Hopefully the seed will grow even to

only those who attended. We ended the Vocation search-

in with midday prayer.

By: Sr. Martha Lugtu, OSB

Sr. Remedios de los Reyes, OSB Back to Windhoek, Namibia March 21, 2013

Sr. Barbara Batac, OSB To Norfolk, Nebraska, USA February 5, 2013

Sr. Marie Enoch Kim, OSB Sr. Lois Choi, OSB

Sr. Marie Munmo Kim,

OSB

From Daegu Priory for exposure, Feb. 14, 2013 –

Sr. Lydia Villegas, OSB Appointed Sub-Prioress 2013-2015

Mother Irene Dabalus, OSB Elected Priory Councilor

2013-2016

25 ELECTED DELEGATES TO THE PRIORY CHAPTER, APRIL

May the Lord’s

blessings

like a light

guide you on

EASTER and

ALWAYS…

MARCH 31, 2013