19/09/2024
To Bring the Message of Joy by Sr. Gloria Santos, ssc
(Published in the Far East Magazine)
In its third year of transition from a commonwealth nation under the United States of America to an independent republic, a new hope dawned for the Philippines, especially for the Catholic Church. In February 1937, the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress was held in Manila and brought a renewed religious fervour within the country. The new bishop of Lingayen-Dagupan diocese, Bishop Madriaga wrote to Mother Mary Patrick, Superior General of the Columban Sisters, inviting the Sisters to open two new foundations in his diocese. One, in the town of Lingayen to administer a dormitory for high school girls, to give religion classes in the schools, and open a training centre for catechists. The second was in the town of Malasiqui where he felt there was a need for a Catholic school and for a catechetical ministry.
This request was a new missionary venture for the Congregation. The call was not to China, but to a land and people where Christianity has been practiced since the 16th century. The need was different; it called for a different way of listening and responding. It was also a time of uncertainty in the world. The war that would begin in Europe would escalate and the Chinese-Japanese war had already been raging for two years. But this was the context when five Sisters, chosen from the Hanyang and Nancheng missions in China, arrived on the Philippine shores on May 24, 1939. These courageous pioneering women were Sisters Bernadette Connolly, Teresa Devins, Aloysius Lenihan, Colmcille McCormick and Monica Finn. Five days later, the first Columban Sisters’ community in the country was established in Malasiqui, and by August, the second community was opened in the coastal town of Lingayen. Two years later on April 20, 1941, three Sisters arrived in Ozamis City on invitation of Bishop James Hayes. The Sisters took over the administration of the Immaculate Conception School. They were Sisters Francis de Sales Hogan, Mary Campion McCarthy and Mary Teresa Devins. With these three foundations in Luzon and Mindanao, the Columban Sisters took their first steps in the educational apostolates. The small schools would in later years expand with their graduates making their names in various professional and occupational fields and in the Lord’s service as religious, priests and missionaries.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and subsequently occupied our country. All schools in the country were closed and the Sisters left their communities for safety and stayed with the people in the barrios. As they experienced the scarcity of basic needs this time was an opportunity for a deep encounter with the people, where through their life of witness they taught the Gospel values, not in classrooms but in their neighbours’ homes. When war was over more schools were assigned to the Sisters to administer in Olongapo City, Malate Manila, Pangasinan, Zamboanga Sur and Misamis Occidental. From the beginning, the Sisters put their whole heart into their apostolate, in the service of educating the young and accompanying them in their personal and spiritual life.
The Sisters’ way of life inspired some young Filipino women to join the Congregation. The first to enter was Sister Consuelo Mercado in 1949. She and other Filipina Sisters who followed in those early years went to the novitiate in Boston, USA for their initial formation. In 1974, as more Filipina young women accepted the call to religious life as Columban Sisters, the Philippine novitiate was opened, with the first two novices making their profession in November 1976.
The Church’s new way of looking at and evaluating world realities which the documents from the Vatican Council produced resulted in challenges and difficulties but also hope for the congregation. There was an increasing interest in socio-pastoral ministries. Centres were opened to help the poor, the marginalized of society and the sick. Some Sisters were involved in family life apostolates, medical and other health-based programs, and in hospital chaplaincy.
The country was placed under martial law in the early 70’s. There were massive numbers of arrests; torture and executions of vigilant individuals who denounced the injustices committed. Some Sisters became active members in ministries to prisoners and task force detainees sometimes risking themselves of being detained. Other Sisters joined the rural missionaries as well as worked with the urban poor, and becoming more active in field of human rights and justice and peace groups. Some Sisters opted to live and work in solidarity with the people in the slums.
Due to changes in the government’s education policies we began to hand over the formal education apostolates back to the diocese or to other religious groups. Moving to other forms of teaching ministry, some Sisters worked in the formation of the laity, seminarians, religious, and future formators as mentors, counsellors and spiritual guides.
In 1983, a group of four Sisters started to work with the tribal peoples, in particular with the Subaanen people in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur. The focus was to walk with the people, respecting their ways, culture and beliefs, to help them regain their dignity and place in society and help them protect their ancestral lands. Today this ministry continues and has developed with the indigenous people celebrating their cultural heritage, and re-learning and passing it on to the younger generations. Gradually they have learnt to walk with pride and gratitude for their land and culture.
Differences in beliefs, religion, and ideologies brought constant tensions and conflicts between Muslims and Christians living in the south of the country. Believing that lasting peace can only be achieved through genuine dialogue, a couple of Sisters joined this ministry in the prelature of Marawi, where they lived and worked with both Muslims and Christians.
In mid 80’s a ministry to people with special needs was started by a Sister, who, having trained in speech therapy, visited children with speech problems, encouraging them and their parents out of their isolation in order to integrate within society. She opened a small centre in Ozamis with other Sisters taking over the administration of the centre in later years. Today this ministry has expanded to community-based programs and livelihood projects for the people with special needs.
The handing over of the last Columban Sisters’ school, the Immaculate Conception College in Ozamis to the De la Salle Brothers marked the end of the era of education ministry. On 14 May 1994, the last Sisters in the community said goodbye to both school and convent and moved to their new convent in the city.
As we entered the new millennium, the number of Sisters in the area had become smaller. Many Sisters had returned to their home countries. We continued to invite young women to listen to God’s call in their life. Through the years a number of young women joined the formation program although few went through to final vows. Still the Philippines continue to send missionaries and receive new ones to participate in Christ’s mission. Today, the area is host to the international novitiate where there are novices from Myanmar and Filipina postulants.
In 2011 we were invited to work in the parish of Pasay. While being involved in various parish programs, the Sisters came to know an unlikely section of the parish; which is the cemetery where hundreds of homeless families live. The Sisters started a feeding program for school children living there and later a scholarship program was offered to deserving students. A centre was set up within the old church for meetings and as a study place. Today, the children who come from this area are no longer ashamed to say that their home is the public cemetery.
Pope Francis issued the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ and the exhortation ‘Laudate Deum’ an urgent call for all peoples to care and protect our common home. We had drawn up an action plan which will be implemented in the area. Responding to this call, two Sisters and some lay associates started an ecology program in Pangasinan with the goal of encouraging the people to take their responsibility for the earth and to train local ‘Laudato Si’ animators. This project is still in early stages of development.
This year as we celebrate the centenary of our foundation, we look with gratitude to all the Sisters who came and brought GOD’s message of JOY to the people. We celebrate them whose names are now written not only in the Congregation’s annals and in our nation’s history, but in the hearts of generations of Filipinos.
