SCJ Philippine District

The month of November in Cagayan de Oro City was the Month of Vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It was organized by the Vocation Committee in the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro. The culmination of all activities called "Vocation Jamboree" took place on November 28, 2004 in Cagayan de Oro City in the compound of one of the colleges. It was a whole night affair attended by more than 1000 young people searching for the meaning of their lives, many priests and religious sisters. It was also attended by the SCJ Vocation Director Fr. Indra Pamungkas with the group of seminarians and Lay Dehonians. The SCJ seminarians, under the supervision of Miss Grace Escobia, formed a choir which added up the splendor and solemnity to the Holy Mass celebrated as a closing of the Vocation Jamboree.

November 26 in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart has a special meaning and dimension. It is commonly known as an SCJ Memorial Day. The purpose of this celebration is to remember all the SCJs who died as martyrs on the field of apostolic work and evangelization. At the moment there are at least 45 SCJs who died as martyrs. The idea of celebrating this Memorial Day came out during the XXI General Chapter and was aproved by the General Council in Rome. The chosen date for this celebration is the date of death of an SCJ Bishop Mons. Joseph Wittebols, who was killed together with 27 SCJ missionaries in Congo during the rebellion on November 26, 1964. According to the directives of the General Council it should be celebrated in the whole Congregation, especially in the formation houses. In Cagayan de Oro formation community the celebration was preceeded by 9-day Novena and a special Mass on November 26, 2004. The concelebrated Mass was attended by some visitors: priests, religious sisters and the group of Lay Dehonians of Cagayan de Oro Chapter.

As a part of spiritual preparation for the SCJ Memorial Day and for Advent, the members of Adult Lay Dehonians group and the Dehonian Youth from Cagayan de Oro joined together for a day of recollection conducted by Fr. Eduardo Aguero. It took place on November 21, 2004 at the Sacred Heart Formation House in Cagayan de Oro and was attended by more than 30 participants.

Blog or Weblog is a new way to publish, share information get feed back and more... On the web. More than a personal website, a blog gives user a powerful media to communicate and interact in a public or a private context. It's a tool which can be used in many different ways and should be not ingnored in the area of apostolate.
Interenet is also a mission field, a place of encounter with the others and possibly with God. It helps to create communities and share common concern. We believe that using this way of communication we can reach more people with whom we can share our lives, the spirituality of our congregation and dreams of our founder Fr. John Leo Dehon. This blog is an extention of our webpage http://www.scjphil.org. We hope it will give you more insight and information about us and our work. Please, keep coming back.

On November 5, 2004, seven of the pre-Postulants were admitted to the one-year and half Postulancy Program. The celebration took place in the SCJ Formation House in Cagayan de Oro City during the Holy Eucharist presided by the local superior Fr. Indra Pamungkas, scj. The new Postulants will join the older batch of five, which is going to start its Novitiate by the end of March 2005. These are the names of the new Postulants: 1. JC O. Cabangahan 2. Jonathan R. Bonje 3. Florante T. Cascot 4. Elpidio Z. Luza Jr. 5. Niño B. Etulle 6. Joseph Butlig 7. Diosdado Perater Jr.

The Lay Dehonians is a group of lay people, who live and share the Dehonian charism and spirituality. Together with the SCJ priests and brothers they belong to the Dehonian Family. In Cagayan de Oro the Lay Dehonians are divided into two smaller groups: Dehonian Youth and Adults, mostly professionals. Also in Zamboanga del Sur in Dumalinao, Kumalarang and Margosatubig there is a number of people sympathizing with the SCJs and actively taking part in their apostolic mission. The group of Lay Dehonians in Cagayan de Oro is the oldest one and at the moment at the stage of reorganizing and acquiring new members. Due to this on October 24, 2004, the group of Adult Lay Dehonians organized a day of recollection for themselves and also for their invited friends to learn more about their vocation as lay people and to adopt the Dehonian spirituality as their own way of life. It took place at the Sacred Heart Formation House in Cagayan de Oro City and was attended by 18 participants.

Kasanag Daughters Foundation or KDF is an institution providing a shelter and professional assistance to the young girls, victims of sexual abuse. It is managed by the SCJ Community of Cagayan de Oro. At the moment there are 20 girls recovering from their traumatic experience in the past. Recently, through the efforts of Fr. Rino Venturin, scj, the program coordinator, and with the help of some benefactors from Italy, the facilities of KDF have expanded by a new building. It provides an additional space for counseling and meetings. The blessing of the new building took place on September 4, 2004 and was led by Fr. Eduardo Aguero, scj, the founder of Kasanag.