BULLETIN NO. 1

APAC Convention delegates, July 2005.

APAC is a voluntary association for religious congregations for men and for women in Asia and the Pacific that follow the Rule of Augustine of Hippo and his spirituality. It has existed for the past thirty years.

More details about APAC can be obtained by contacting its Secretariate, which has a permanent office in Manila ( Philippines): apacphil@yahoo.com

APAC Convention, July 2005

Some APAC delegates.

Every three years an APAC Convention is held. The most recent one took place in Incheon, South Korea on 24 th-30 th July 2005. Delegates attended from the Augustinian Sisters of Divine Mercy (Indonesia), Augustinian Sisters of our Lady of Consolation (Philippines). Male delegates came from the Augustinian Recollects ( Philippines), Augustinians of the Assumption ( Korea) and from all five jurisdictions of the Order of Saint Augustine in the Asia-Pacific: Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

The keynote address, proceedings and resolutions of the APAC convention are available in printed form in the recent issue of the APAC Bulletin. To request a copy of this Bulletin (if still available), contact the APAC Secretariate at apacphil@yahoo.com

The Vicariate of the Orient

Fr Horacio of Colegio San Agustin.

The Vicariate of the Orient is one of the circumscriptions of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines. This province of the Order of Saint Augustine has operated continuously since the year 1575 to minister in Asia.

With the creation of the Province of Cebu in the Philippines in 1987, the Vicariate of the Orient was established to keep the parent province present in the Asia-Pacific. As well as have responsibility for the Region of India (see below), the Vicariate retained two locations in the Philippines: at Intramuros the Church and Convento San Agustin, and at Makati the Colegio San Agustin.

The Colegio San Agustin provides an elementary and high school education for 6,300 students, many hundreds of whom come from other nations in the Asia-Pacific region. The Colegio offers a great variety of programs that help make it one of the best elementary and hight schools in the nation.

Because the school has reached its maximum enrolment possible at the Makati location, the Vicariate of the Orient is in the process of opening another school in the suburbs of Manila. The proposed new school will have a minumim area of twenty hectares, and another ten hectares are being negotiated to allow for other needs of the Vicariate, such as a church, a house of formation, and housing for teachers.

The Region of India

Major Seminary, Alwaye, Kerala State, India

The Region of India, which is now the responsibility of the Vicariate of the Orient (mentioned above), began in 1968. Its task was to restore the Order of Saint Augustine to the Indian sub-continent, where it had been present from 1579 until about 1850 through the activities of a number of Europe-based Provinces.

The region now has sixteen priests, eight professed, one novice and eleven pre-novices studying philosophy. In a separate minor seminary, there are thirty aspirants undertaking their high school education. The Order accepted the Parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, which is contiguous with the Order's minor seminary at Cochin. At various times during the 16th to 18th centuries five Augustinians occupied the office of Bishop of Cochin.

Lately a new parish has been offered the Order in a nearby diocese where the Order has never served before. Negotiations are still being finalised.

The Delegation of Papua, Indonesia.

Augustinians of Papua.

The Papuan mission 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.) Since 1953, fourteen members of the Dutch Province have served there. Of the five who are still there, two have taken out Indonesian citizenship.

In recent times local vocations have increased. As of 30th July 2005 there were eleven Indonesian Augustinians in solemn vows (seven priests, one lay brother and three clerical students), eleven students in temporary vows (nine clerics and one lay brother), seven novices, four postulants and a good number of candidates.

On 1st August 2005 the seven novices took their temporary vows, and the four postulants began their novitiate. This ceremony took place at Tagaste monastery at Sorong. On the same day the eleven students already in temporary vows renewed their commitment for another year. This happened at the Cassiciacum professorium in Jayapura, which is 1,100 kilometers from Sorong.

All members of the Delegation of Papua are looking forward to 18th December 2005, when two members will be ordained to the priesthood at Sorong by Most Rev Hilarion Datus Lega, Bishop of Manokwari-Sorong. Father Eusebio Berdon O.S.A. (Assistant General) will travel from Rome for the ceremony.

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. The photographs have captions written in both the English and Indonesian language.

The Province of Cebu

Church of St Lawrence .

The Province of Cebu of the Order of Saint Augustine on 5th January 2005 accepted the Quasi-Parish of St Lawrence two kilometres from Gubat, which is located on the southern tip of the island of Luzon and is 600 kms by road from Manila.

The Church of St Lawrence is the largest of nine barrio chapels in Gubat, and is near the Augustinian contemplative nuns at the Monastery of Saint Rita. With the Augustinian friars wishing to be chaplains to the nuns, the local bishop, Most Rev Arturo Bastes S.V.D., took the opportunity of giving them pastoral responsibility for the area, which is a coastal fishing region.

Because the area as yet has not sufficient population to become a parish, the bishop formed a Quasi-Parish that will become a parish at a later date. Two Augustinians friars are now appointed there.

The Augustinian nuns arrived from Spoleto, Italy two years ago, and the nun appointed as superior is a Filipina. Already three local candidates have been accepted at the monastery, the senior of whom is now in simple profession and continuing her formation in Italy.

Delegation of Korea

Mass of Blessing, 27th June 2005.

The Mother of Good Counsel Priory was founded on 17th March 2005. It accommodates Korea's newest Augustinian community at Do-Shin-Ri in the new Diocese of Uijeongbu, north of Seoul. The Priory is situated in mountains about ten kilometres from the DMZ (demilitarised zone) which divides North Korea from South Korea.

The two buildings on the property were renovated before the bishop was invited to bless them. On the eve of the blessing Mass it rained heavily, bringing welcome relief from the summer heat and washing away the sweat and dust of the previous six weeks of reconstruction work.

Fortunately the rains eased for a few hours upon the arrival of Bishop Joseph Han Taek Lee S.J., D.D. who came on the afternoon of Monday 27th June 2005. All the Augustinians of the Korean Delegation and over seventy visitors from Inchon, Seoul, and Uijeongbu came for the Mass and celebration.

In his homily the bishop spoke of how pleased he was that the brothers of Saint Augustine had come to establish a community and ministry in Uijeongbu Diocese and of the importance of the witness of religious communities in the life of the Church. He especially noted the great influence that the short monastic rule Saint Augustine had had on the development of religious life in the western Church and reminded the Augustinians in Korea to be faithful to the spirit and traditions handed down to them.

Br Barnabas Jeong-Dok Kim O.S.A., the Korean Delegation Superior and also a member of the new community, spoke at the close of the Mass and greeted the bishop and visitors in the name of the Australian Provincial, Fr Patrick Fahey O.S.A. who was unable to attend the celebrations in person.

A retreat ministry for families and small groups is planned in the new chapel and retreat house facilities, along with overnight camps for youth. The first visiting groups have already made use of the Priory.

Vicariate of Japan

Fr Jess Dano O.S.A.

Fr Jess Dano O.S.A. of the Cebu Province is a member of the Augustinian community in Tokyo, and studying the Japanese language full-time. He writes: "I arrived Japan on September 21, 2003. Aware of the need to experience the language and culture of the people, I enroled in Nihongo at the Shinjuku Nihongo Gakko (SNG), Tokyo's Japanese language school for foreign students who wish to enter a university here."

"In September this year I am supposed to finish the whole program. However, considering my slow pace (my deep apology for using this term!) and the 'repeat-system' implemented at SNG, I do not think I can beat the deadline. For my pace, I think, I need three years to complete the language course."

"New environment entails new challenges. Here in Tokyo the challenges are new to me. The peoples' lifestyle and mentality which may be greatly influenced by their religion, language and culture are not familiar to me either. I have to start from the first level, or even from zero level. Doing this thing takes patience and courage, which, I know, only God can provide."

"Faith in God has helped me manage every difficult moments of my life here in Tokyo. The same trust in God, I believe, will help me face and welcome tougher challenges in the years ahead, especially when I already embark on my future ministry. With this in mind, the challenge of living in Tokyo or anywhere else will not make my life very difficult for me."

"By the way, the Japanese ordinarily uses the word 'GANBARE' to mean 'hang in there'. I am now using this Japanese word as my motto."

"After two-year studies in Nihongo, I expect to be assigned to communities where there is strong presence of Filipinos. I hope to minister to Filipino migrants based in Japan, to care for their spiritual needs, guide their moral lives, lead them to God and bring them the message of God's abiding love and presence."

Province of Australia

For current news of the Province of Australia, click here. Father Tony Banks O.S.A. (pictured at right) was a delegate at APAC, and is a member of the newly-appointed APAC Executive. Members of the Province of Australia are present in each of the four APAC commissions: Spirituality/Formation, Communications, Social Justice, and Youth.

Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation

Mother Consuelo OSA, 1857 - 1940.

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. It was then forwarded on 6th September 2003 to Rome, where further steps in the process have now happened.

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.

The Augustinian Sisters of God's Mercy

Augustinian Sisters of God's Mercy and Rosa

The Augustinian Sisters of God's Mercy ( Indonesia) are expaning their ministry of conducting day clinics to building and conducting a small hospital in West Borneo, Indonesia. The first Augustinians Sisters of God's Mercy arrived in Indonesia from Holland on 6th December 1946. The Sisters are now entirely Indonesian in their membership, and have fourteen communities and 105 members.

The Sisters are presently completing a hospital named Rumah Sakit Fatima to accommodate 80 beds in the town of Ketapang Kalimantan Barat, an area with a district population of 650,000 located 50 minutes by small aircraft from the larger centre of Pontianaic, West Borneo.

Since 1963 an outpatients clinic of that same name has been operated by the Sisters in Ketapang Kalimantan Barat. In 1973 the clinic was enlarged to include maternal and child health, and twelve beds for inpatients added to it.

Since 1973 there has been the constant hope to advance from having an expanded clinic to building a hospital that could treat most illnesses. The sisters have eleven clinics in villages for which Ketapang Kalimantan Barat is the nearest city, hence having a hospital in that city will allows patients from these clinics to be referred to the sister's hospital.

The hospital building is now completed, and awaits the necessary medical and hospital equipment. Overseas donations will greatly assist this process. For details, contact the APAC Secretariate in the Philippines apacphil@yahoo.com

The Assumptionists in Korea

Fr. Leo Brassard A.A.

The Augustinians of the Assumption, who came to Korea in 1987, will remember 3rd October 2005 as the day they opened their own four-level building in southwestern Korea.

The building is located in Gwangu, in the South Cholla Province of Korea. It is dedicated to Notre Dame de Salut ("Our Lady of Salvation"), a title under which the Assumptionists honour the Virgin. There is a statue of Notre Dame du Salut in Paris (pictured here), and two copies of it will be used in the building at Gwangu.

The new building is designed for multiple purposes. The bottom floor classroom-sized meeting rooms. Because of the slope of the land, the main entrance is on the second floor, along with entrance parlours, a library and guest quarters. As well there is a chapel to seat 150 people. It features traditional Korean doors and windows. The altar is a block of granite weighing three tonnes.

The third floor contain the communuity room, refectory and rooms of the Assumptionists. (Presently the community comprises one priest from Canada, another from Europe and five Korean candidates, the first of whom will be eligible for priestly ordination in two years' time.)

The top floor will be a self-contained retreat centre that will accommodate forty guests overnight Korean-style. The cost of the building has largely been funded by the Asumptionists in France.

The Augustinians of the Assumption ("Assumptionists") were founded in France in 1850, half a century after the provinces of the Order of Saint Augustine had been closed by the French Revolution. There are now 900 men in the First Order, half of whom are elderly - there are 360 retired Assumptionists in France alone. The largest area of active ministry is the Province of Africa, which is centred on the Congo, Kenya and Tanzania - three nations where the Order of Saint Augustine is also active. The Second Order of the Assumptionists has over 2,000 female religious.

Commenting on the stage that the Assumptionists have now reached in Korea, Fr Leo Brassard A.A., who attended the APAC convention in Incheon, said, "After a long period of struggling to become established here, life in Korea for the Augustinians of the Assumption is exciting. This has been aided by the people of Korea, who are really amazing."