<Bulletin No. 10>

.........APAC - the Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference - is a voluntary association for religious congregations of men and for women in Asia and the Pacific that follow St Augustine of Hippo's Rule and spirituality. This includes over thirty religious congregations, with most of these congregations and their membership being in the Philippines and India.

............For the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC), the main commemoration was a Mass of Thanksgiving and a dinner on Saturday, 10th November 2007. The concelebrated Mass took place in the magnificent and ancient Church of San Agustin at Intramuros, Manila.

............Among the twenty concelebrants were Augustinians of the Assumption, Augustinian Recollects and representatives of six of the seven jurisdictions of the Order of Saint Augustine in the Asia-Pacific. Various congregations of Augustinian sisters attended the Mass.

............The presider at the Mass was Fr Rommel Par O.S.A., as a delegate of the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine. At the end of the Mass, three APAC Social Justice Awards were given to projects in the Philippines and Japan, in memory of the late Fr Miguel Manrique O.S.A., who was a founding figure in APAC.

....... ...The banquet after the Mass was hosted by the Vicariate of the Orient in San Agustin Plaza adjacent to the church, under the direction of Fr Jose William Arana O.S.A. (regional superior). There were 400 guests, comprising male and female religious and Augustinian lay associates.

Until four years ago, the APAC Secretariat changed address each time a new APAC executive secretary was elected at the triennial APAC Convention. At the Convention in Incheon in 2005, the delegates accepted the generous offer of the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation to have the secretariat permanently established at their motherhouse at San Jan, Manila. This has allowed the creation of an APAC Archives, for which material is being sought from previous APAC executive secretaries.

Should you wish to make any enquiries regarding APAC archives or coming APAC activities please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat. If she cannot help you she will at least be able to put you in touch with someone who can do so.

............A printed twenty-page APAC Bulletin is produced and distributed twice yearly. All religious congregations affiliated with APAC are welcome to receive copies of it free of charge. To request a copy, contact the APAC Secretariate in Manila by e-mailing apacphil@yahoo.com

xxxxxA number of male and female Religious Orders who constitue the Augustinian family in the Asia-Pacific keep in contact with one another through the Asia-Pacific Augustinian Conference (APAC). The tenth triennial APAC Convention took place at Barrio Iruhin, Tagaytay City, near Manila, Philippines on 27th-31st October 2008.

xxxxxOver fifty Augustinian men and women (see photo above) representing members in twelve nations participated. Members of the Order of St Augustine attended from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.

xxxxxElected as APAC President for 2008-2011 was Fr Tony Banks O.S.A., (Australian Provincial).

..........Within the Order of Saint Augustine, the longest-serving Augustinians in Korea are two Australian Augustinians, one of whom was among the first arrivals there in 1985. These Australians join with two Augustinians from the Province of Cebu (Philippines) in a Delegation with just under twenty Korean-born Augustinians.

.................Now in full operation in Incheon is the St. Rita Spirituality Centre and the new accommodation for those living at the Augustinian home for boys, “No-rang Na-rang” (“You and I”).

............The two new buildings (see architectural sketch below) are situated directly behind St. Augustine’s Priory in Incheon on the former site of the old No-rang Na-rang Home, which has been demolished, and on a small adjacent block of land purchased over four years ago.

............The St. Rita Spirituality Centre seats more than 200 people for lectures and one-day conferences. In the new No-rang Na-rang Home there is accommodation for two Augustinians, a house mother, and up to eight boys.

............For sixty photographs of the Order of Saint Augustine in South Korea, choose the photo gallery named Korea after you click on the link below: http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6

............After arriving in Manila and establishing a community in a rented building two years ago, the Augustinians of the Assumption have now purchased and renovated a house of their own in the Loyola Heights section of Quezon City, Metro Manila.

............The building (photo above) was solemnly blessed on 17th November 2007 in the presence of the Assumptionist Prior General, who came from Rome for the ceremony. In the community are Assumptionists priests from France, Canada, Congo and the Philippines, and in Pavel House nearby are a number of postulants and aspirants.

............In their commitment to simplicity in life, the community has decided to have neither a motor vehicle nor a housekeeper. The ministries undertaken variously by priests, postulants and aspirants include catechetics, spiritual direction, prision ministry, pastoral work amongst the poor, a formation program, publications ministry, high school teaching, social justice projects, and vocations ministry.

xxxxxxOn 14th August 2008 two young men began their novitiate. For this purpose a location is being used at Antipolo, near Manila. The novice master, Fr Richard Brunelle, formerly served in Tanzania. It is planned that in future the novitiate will be multi-national in composition by accepting candidates sent there by some other Assumptionist regions of the world.

............Within the Asia-Pacific another male Assumptionist community is located at West Cwangju within Cholla Province in the southern section of South Korea. The Assumptionists held their fortieth General Council during April 2008 in West Gwangju, South Korea. Korea was the chosen venue so that the participants from all over theworld could receive a first-hand experience of Asia.

...........The Augustinian Recollects held the 3rd OAR Mission Congress in Manila on 4th-6th December 2006 as a fitting way of culminating the Augustinian Jubilee.

...........This was attended by men and women delegates from OAR mission territories all over the world and the members of the OAR Family in the Philippines and Taiwan.

...........The occasion was also a celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Ezekiel Moreno O.A.R., European and member of the Augustinian Family, who spent fifteen years of his missionary life among the Filipinos in Asia and eighteen years at Columbia in Latin America.

...........The culmination of the Augustinian Jubilee also coincided with the 400th anniversary of the presence of the Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines and Asia. The Recollects arrived in the Philippines in May 1606.

...........Historical markers on the sites of the first convent and the first church built by the early Recollect missionaries and other signs of OAR heritage (cathedrals, the Black Nazarene and the Virgin de la Salud, towns and churches, the Bamboo organ, to name a few) were erected by the Philippines National Historical Institute.

...........Some of these markers were inaugurated by the Prior General of the Recollects, together with government authorities (headed by the Vice-President of the Philippines) and the superior of the local Recollect Province of St Ezekiel Moreno during the days the Mission Congress in December 2006.

..........Presently the Recollects of the Province of St Ezekiel Moreno focus their attention on the missions in Africa, Latin America, and Taiwan. In support of the brothers in more difficult assignments, the religious in the more established areas of apostolate intensify permanent formation in humility and poverty and the life of stricter community.

...........For the Recollects, the year 2008 has been declared as “Augustinian Recollect Vocation Year.”

xx xxxMonday, 24th November 2008 saw the beatification ceremony of Fr Thomas Jihyoe O.S.A. (Thomas of Augustine) take place in Nagasaki, Japan.By this ceremony, Thomas became a "Blessed" of the Church, which is one step away from his being declared a saint sometime in the future.

xx xxxThe beatification ceremony was held in a large sports stadium, in order to accommodate the many of thousands who attended. Augustinians were present from Japan, Spain, Italy, Korea, Australia and the Philippines (see photo, above right).

xx xxxThomas Jihyoe O.S.A. was born around the year 1600 in Omura, Japan, near Nagasaki. His parents, both teachers of the Christian religion, were killed for the Faith. In 1622 he went to Manila, Philippines to enter the Augustinian Order. He took his religious vows in 1624, and then became an Augustinian priest.

xx xxxAfter failing several times to obtain the permission of his superiors to return to Japan, he finally returned there in 1631, and ministered in secret. He brazenly obtained a position in the administration of the Governor of Nagasaki under the name Kintsuba ("golden sword" - see photo at right). When Thomas had to flee the city of Nagasaki, he ministered from a hillside cave, and became the object of a famous search by the soldiers of the Governor.

xx xxxFinally, in 1637 a group of soldiers detained him, and he then underwent cruel torture. On 6th November 1637 he was hung by his feet with his head inserted into a pit of rotting garbage until he died. For more details go to http://www.augnet.org and search for “Thomas Jihyoe” or to http://www.augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=756.........

xx xxxThe Order of St Augustiune established a Priory at Nagasaki in 1612, and remained there until forced out in 1640 by a series of persecutions. Augustinians returned to Japan in 1952, and now form the Vicariate of Japanese Martyrs there.

.............Photos of Augustinian ministry in Japan are available in two photo galleries named "Japan: Nagasaki" and "Japan: Fukuoka and Tokyo" at: http://www.augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6

............The largest congregation of Augustinian religious sisters in APAC is the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation (Consolation Sisters). The year 2008 marked the 125th anniversary of the congregation.

............The Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation are at the point in their history at which the process of canonisation of one of their co-founders is progressing. The co-foundresses were blood sisters, Mother Rita and Mother Consuelo Barcelo y Pages O.S.A. from Sarria, Cataluna, Spain.

............Both Mother Rita and Mother Consuelo worked in the Philippines from 1883 to 1899, and Mother Consuelo returned there in 1904 and remained until her death in 1940. Mother Conseulo was the first Mother General of the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation. Her four consecutive terms of office spanned the twenty-four years between 1915 and 1940.

............The cause for the beatification of Mother Consuelo was officially opened in the Archdiocese of Manila on 30th September 2002.

x x x x It was then forwarded on 6th September 2003 to Rome, where the most recent steps steps in the process happened in February 2008.

............On 4th August 2005 the mortal remains of Mother Consuelo were transferred from the Congregation's mausoleum at La Loma Cemetry, Manila, and transferred to the back portion of the mother house chapel at La Consolacion Convent, San Juan, Metro Manila. On 20th July 2008 a new wooden image of Mother Rita and Mother Consuelo was enshrined in the Motherhouse, La Consolacion Convent, San Juan, Metro Manila.

x x x xAs of October 2008 the demographic profile of the congregation was: 231 professed sisters, 17 temporarily professed or junior sisters, 7 aspirants, 7 postulants and 5 novices. The congregation has communities in the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Spain and Australia, with hopes already announced to extend into Vietnam in January 2009.

...........Although the enclosed nature of their religious life precludes the Augustinian contemplative nuns from attending many APAC events, they have been represented at a few of them.

............The monastery was established there in 1997 with the assistance of the Italian Federation of Augustinian Contemplative Nuns. This Federation supplied the founding nuns, and still accepts the newer members of Bulacan for extended periods of formation in Rome, Italy.

............On 29th July 2006 community member Sister Agnes O.S.A. became the first Korean-born Augustinian contemplative nun, when she professed her first vows at the Mother of Good Counsel Monastery, Bulacan, Philippines. This brings to ten the number in the community.

x x x xOn 26th April 2008 the community celebrated the tenth anniversary of their monastery.

............Further details of the community and monastery are available on the Internet at http://www.augustiniannunsbulacan.org

Discalced Augustinians in Cebu

After barely ten years at Cebu in the Philippines, the Discalced Augustinian Fathers have instituted a school for the religious aspiring to learn theology and for those seeking renewal courses in theology and religious life.

. .........The St. Monica Institute of Religious Studies (SMIRS - photo at right) began operation in June 2004 under the graduate program of the University of San Agustin-Iloilo.

The teaching faculty comprises of religious priests and sisters from the OAD (Discalced Augustinians), OSA (Order of Saint Augustine), OAR (Augustinian Recollects) and from other congregations who have specialized field of learning in religious life and theological disciplines.

Formators from the diocesan seminary also lend support of their time and expertise from time to time.

A Strategic Plan will be drafted in March 2007 to put in place another three-year program for the SMIRS. Preparations will center on enhancing the teaching-learning strategies, administrative controls and flow of functions, and bringing about an expanded network of resources and pool of additional qualified professors.

Through the SMIRS, the OAD mission in the Philippines is expanding. In SMIRS, academic expertise in spirituality and religious life are some of its major strengths. Some brothers are now taking specialized studies in Rome in view of their apostolate in the religious institute.

...........Specializations in Liturgy, Church History and Patristics, Fundamental theology, Canon Law, Sacraments, etc. are undertaken by those OAD priests and brothers to help provide for the future staffing of SMIRS.

...........The OAD goal for SMIRS is to contribute to the Church a relevant, holistic, spiritual, pastoral, academic formation in religious life and theological enterprise.

...........The dean and communications director of SMIRS is Fr. Robin A. Dumaguit O.A.D.

............Within the Order of Saint Augustine, the Province of the Holy Infant of Cebu (Philippines) has plans well underway for the development of a retreat and spirituality centre at Consolacion, Cebu (the second locality north of Cebu City). Five hectares – about 13 acres - of land has been purchased on an elevated sloping terrain, with views to the sea.

............Architectural plans are shown above. Regarding the plan, all three main structures shown are part of the retreat centre. The bigger building on the right contains the main assembly hall. Its upper floor of which is convertible into a big assembly area of over 100 people, and into smaller conference rooms. The lower floor contains the refectory and kitchen. The basement contains the utility rooms.

............At the left of the architectural sketch is the chapel building. Its upper floor contains the chapel proper, while the lower floor has smaller conference rooms and counselling rooms. (Chapel pic, at right)

............Beyond the chapel to the top-left edge of the drawing are shown three small buildings, two of which are dormitories for single or double occupancy, and one building is intended for group occupancy.

xxxxxxThe first phase of the Centre became operational in August 2008. The solemn blessing of the entitre Centre will take place on the feast of Santo Nino in January 2009, with the Prior General coming from Rome to lead the ceremony.

............For over twenty photographs of the Order of Saint Augustine in the Province of Cebu, choose the photo gallery named Philippines: Province of Cebu after you click here: http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6

x x x xAt Intramuros in Manila, the Seminaro San Agustin of the Order of St Augustine was destroyed by U.S. bombing and artillery during the Second World War. A building of a similar style is now rising on the same site.

x x x xConstruction began in May 2008, and was essentially completed seven months later (see photo, at right).

x x x xThe architecture of the new Seminario has to comply with the Intramuros historical buildings' laws and heritage codes, hence it is being built in a style in keeping with the other old buildingsin the locality. It has two levels, and consists of two right-angle wings, with the possibility of a third wing being added later.

x x x xOn the first (ground) floor are the chapel, dining room, library, multi-purpose hall, reception rooms, etc. and a class room.

x x x xThe second (upper) floor will house novices and simple professed, and has a total of forty-four rooms for these young men and their directors, plus a chapel and classroom for the novices. The novices will live in their own smaller wing. The postulants will continue to reside in the present accommodation on the same property.

x x x xThe web site of the Vicariate of the Orient is http://www.osaorient.org . For thirty photographs of the Order of Saint Augustine in Intramuros, choose the photo gallery named Philippines: Intramuros after you go to http://www.augnet.org

..........A new jurisdiction within the Order of Saint Augustine in the Asia Pacific began on 25th October 2006. It is the Delegation of Our Lady of Grace (India).

..........It began with three Augustinian communities in Kerala State; two are formation houses, and one a community in a parish conducted by the Order.

..........The parish is dedicated in honour of St Thomas the Apostle, and is located in the city of Thalappuzha. The Augustinian residence there has been named the Mother of Good Counsel Ashram. Three Augustinians now live there.

..........A fourth community now exists in temporary quarters near a primary and secondary school of 900 students that the Order acquired in the adjacent State of Tamil Nadu. The school is named "Sembagam Metric Higher Secondary School (Run by Augustinian Fathers)."

x x x xIn 2008 its enrolment increased to exceed 1,000 students. Fourteen new classrooms and two staff rooms were completed for the academic year that began on 6th June 2008. The rest of the work on this new building was done during the subsequent school holidays.

x x x xThere are five Augustinians working in the school, four of whom also teach there. At present they are living in two separate buildings on the school premises, but eventually a separate Augustinian Priory will be provided.

x x x xFr Xavier Kattikat O.S.A. was placed in charge of the school project, and also appointed Prior (local superior) of the Augustinian community......

..........For fifty photographs of the Order of Saint Augustine in India, choose the photo gallery named India after you click here: http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6

.........The Augustinian Sisters of Divine Mercy are an Indonesian congregation with membership in APAC. Much of the ministry of their 105 religious sisters in fourteen different communities focuses on the provision of medical clinics in the region of Indonesia called Kalimantan Barat (formerly Borneo).

........ The first Augustinian Sisters of Divine Mercy arrived in Indonesia from Holland in 1949, but the congregation is now entirely Indonesian in membership.

x x x In 2008 they have seventeen communities and a total of 119 members, including novices and postulants.

..........Their mother house and most of their ministry is in the region of Indonesia called Kalimantan Barat. Their mother house is located at Ketapang, Kalimantan Barat.

..........In February 2007 Sr. Lucia Wahyu OSA was elected as the new Mother Superior General, and Sr. Maria Goretti OSA, Sr. Immaculata OSA, Sr. Clara OSA, and Sr. Sesilia OSA as the council members. The council will be in charge of the congregational concerns for the period 2007 – 2011.

..........In association with another APAC member congregation, the Sisters have two communities serving at Aimas and Sorong in conjunction with members of the Delegation of Papua of the Order of Saint Augustine.

Delegation of Papua, Indonesia.

............The Papuan ministry of the Order of Saint Augustine began on 1st January 1953. (Four hundred years earlier, the first four priests to sail around the world - who were Spanish Augustinians - were in 1544 held nearby by the Portuguese at Ambon on the Malay Peninsula.)

x x x x Since 1953, fourteen members of the Dutch Province have served there. The three who are still there have served in Papua for many years, and two of them have taken out Indonesian citizenship.

............In recent times local vocations have increased. As of July 2008 there were nineteen Indonesian Augustinians in solemn vows (fourteen priests, three lay brother and two clerical students), twenty-two students in temporary vows, eight novices, eight postulants and a good number of candidates.

............The Augustinian Delegation of Papua has a forty-image photo gallery on the Internet. The photographs depict Augustinian life and ministry in Papua, from the largest cities to remote jungle villages.

xxxxxxThe photographs have captions written in both the English and Indonesian languages.

Go to http://www.augnet.org/Papua/Page1/index.html

Augustinian Sisters Servants of Jesus and Mary

In Australia xxxxxThis congregation was founded on 23rd September 1827 by Maria Teresa Spinelli in Frosinone, Italy. The main apostolate of the congregation is teaching. In 1988 the Sisters first moved to Asia, when they opened a convent in India.

xxxxxSince then they have also made three foundations in the Philippines at Iloilo, Laguna and Tagaytay. In the Philippines in 2008 there are 22 professed and 14 in initial formation.

xxxxx Other Sisters are working in England, Malta and Australia (see photo, above left), while others are undertaking international formation in Italy.

xxxxxRepresentatives of this congregation attended the tenth triennial APAC Convention, which was held at Tagaytay, near Manila, in October 2008.

A historical reconsideration

..........Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote his Retractationes (“Reconsiderations”) so as to correct potential errors or faults in his earlier writings.

..........In a somewhat similar spirit, a modern historian of medieval Augustinianism has called for a historical reconsideration of one particular line of thought about the foundation of the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine – “the Augustinians” – in the mid-thirteenth century.

..........The historian concerned is Eric Saak Ph.D.(pictured), the Assistant Professor of History at the Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.

..........He expresses concern and calls for caution re the tendency to underestimate the Grand Union of 1256 and its landmark papal bull, Licet ecclesiae catholicae by focusing on the Little Union of 1244 as if 1244 was a de facto beginning of what actually was enacted in 1256.

..........His article on this subject, which will be placed in a broader context in his next book, is available on the internet on the Augnet web site. Go to:
http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=1529&iParentid=992

..........Dr Saak wrote this article based on his thirty years of expertise on the topic. His most recent book is an 886-page publication, High Way to Heaven: The Augustinian Platform Between Reform and Reformation, 1292-1524, which was published in 2002 by Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 90041 10992.

Augnet

Augnet ...........Augnet, a comprehensive web site on Saint Augustine and the Order of Saint Augustine, was fully redesigned and renovated in May 2006.

..........It now carries over 1,420 pages of text, which also contain over 1,920 illustrations. The Augnet web site was officially "launched" at a ceremony in Sydney in August 2002, with the Augustinian Prior General from Rome as the guest of honour.

..........New technical features in the renovated Augnet include a search engine, which searches every page of Augnet for any word or phrase that is nominated by a user, and a site map, which quickly allows a visitor to see and understand the local arrangement of Augnet's sections and sub-sections.

..........Over 2,750 large images in extensive photo galleries illustrate of Augustinian events and places internationally. The photo galleries most recently added illustrate Augustinian ministry in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, London (England) and at the Escorial (Spain).

.Visit this web site at http://www.augnet.org

Other news

..........News and general details about the Order of Saint Augustine internationally is located at:
www.osanet.org (in English, Italian and Spanish)