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BULLETIN NO. 7 .........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 the Rule of Augustine of Hippo and his spirituality.
In September 2007, it will have existed for exactly thirty years.
Part-time Secretary for APAC Secretariat A young lay woman who hails from Mindanao in the south of the Philippines has begun work as a part time secretary at the APAC Secretariat in Manila.
As we are trying to make the Secretariat the hub for APAC communications, she has been employed to assist the official APAC Secretary (Sr Jocy Widwid OSA, pictured at left) in this task. Should you wish to make any enquiries regarding APAC activities please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat. The secretary will normally be in the office Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (8am – 5pm). If she cannot help you she will at least be able to put you in touch with someone who can. APAC SECRETARIAT : Tel. 721-54-45 Fax. 725-27-27.
A new Assumptionist saint
..........His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will preside. A number of members of the Assumptionist family from the APAC region will attend the ceremony. ..........Marie Anne Eugénie Milleret de Brou (photo above) was born in Metz, France on 26th August 1817. She grew up in a family that had no interest in religion. ..........When she was fifteen, Marie Eugenie’s parents separated. She moved to Paris with her mother and brother, only to see her mother die of cholera shortly afterwards. Her father then sent her to live with relatives whose great interests proved to be money and pleasure. ..........Gathering five women around her when aged twenty-two years, in Paris in 1839 she founded the congregation that later was called the Religious of the Assumption. Her essential vision was one of transforming society through education. The congregation quickly spread throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. ..........Marie Eugénie taught that faith in Jesus impels us to love the world and all its peoples. She believed that all action should flow from a life of love and prayer and tasked us with responding to the urgent needs of our times. Marie-Eugénie died in Paris in 1898, after having founded thirty communities in nine countries and four continents. ..........In the Asia and Pacific region, various congregations within the Assumption religious family serve in Philippines (since 1892), Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, India, New Zealand, and Tonga. Internationally they now serve in more than thirty-four counties. ..........More details about Sr Marie Eugénie of Jesus are available on many web sites, including: http://www.assumptionsisters.org/mother/mother_mary_eugenie.html The Assumptionist international web site is: http://www.assumptio.org/e/
Augustinians, Sydney, Australia ............Paul Skippen, the employed full-time family and youth ministry coordinator of the Augustinian Parish of North Harbour (Sydney, Australia), is producing a weekly e-newsletter for anyone who requests it.
............This e-newsletter is a quite separate production from the printed parish newsletter that is available at the church doors each Sunday. ............Sensing a need for easily-available material to assist reflection, spiritual journaling and prayer by parish members of various ages, Paul introduced this practice to this Augustinian parish last September. ............The reflection is based upon the Gospel readings of the Mass of the previous Sunday. ............Upon request, this weekly e-newsletter is transmitted to people each Monday afternoon as an e-mail attachment. During Lent 2007, Paul intends to provide a similar e-newsletter daily, based once more on the Gospel readings of Lenten weekdays. ............Paul is willing to add to the e-mailing list anyone who requests it. ............To see a recent copy of this e-newsletter that is attached to this web site, click here. ............If you wish to have the weekly e-newsletter (and the daily Lenten e-newsletter) automatically e-mailed to you, send your e-mail address to paul.skippen@ozemail.com.au
APAC Joint Formation Program for Novices, April 2007. ............The APAC Formation and Spirituality Commission is presenting a fourteen-day Joint Formation Program for Novices on 16th-28th April 2007.
............The venue overlooks Cebu City (see photo), and is thirty minutes drive from the Minior Basilica of the Santo Nino. ............So far there are twenty novices enrolled, being eighteen from the Province of Cebu and the Vicariate of the Orient of the Order of Saint Augustine, and two from the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolacion. ............The presenters at the program include Fr Peter Jones O.S.A. of Australia (“Spiritual Interiority”), Fr Andew Batayola O.S.A., Rector of the Minor Basilica (“Confessions of Augustine”), Sr Niceta Vargas O.S.A., President of Regina Carmeli (“Augustine’s Justice and Peace ministry”), Sr Ma. Luz Mijares O.S.A. (“Community Life and Vows”), and Fr John Paul Szura O.S.A. (“Justice and Culture”). ............The Chair of the APAC Formation and Spirituality Commission is Fr. Alan M. Otadoy O.S.A. at SACS in Quezon City. Opening remarks at the Program will be made by Sr Carmeli Catan O.S.A., the Vice-President of APAC. ............Other congregations in the APAC Family are invited to send novices. Further information about the Program is available from the APAC Secretariat in Manila: apacphil@yahoo.com
Delegation of Korea ..........Within the Order of Saint Augustine, there has been a change in the Augustinian relationship between Australia and Korea, and that is in the juridical status of the two bodies. Australia and Korea are now linked. ..........Under this new arrangement approved by the Augustinian General Curia in Rome, henceforth the Provincial of the Australian Province will automatically be the major superior of the Augustinian Delegation of Korea. (Previously, this role was taken alternately by the Provincials of Australia and of Cebu in the Philippines.) ..........The longest-serving Augustinians in Korea are three Australian Augustinians, two of whom were among the first arrivals in 1985. The 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 recently-completed 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 three years ago.
............The St. Rita Spirituality Centre seats more than 200 people for lectures and one-day conferences. In addition the space will be used for the celebration of the Eucharist at Saturday morning Augustinian novena ceremonies. It is also hoped that the centre will become the venue for some sacred and classical music concerts during the year. ............In the new No-rang Na-rang Home there is accommodation for two Augustinians, a house mother, and up to eight boys.
............The building (see photos above) was blessed and officially opened on 27th December 2006 by the Bishop of Incheon, the Most Rev Boniface Choi. In attendance was Fr Tony Banks O.S.A. (Provincial superior), Bro. Barnabas Kim O.S.A, (regional superior), local Augustinians, visiting clergy and religious sisters, and friends of the Augustinians. ............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
Recollect Augustinians, Philippines ...........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 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 theRecollects, 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 last December.
...........For the Recollects, the year 2007 has been declared as “The Year of St Ezekiel Moreno”, and 2008 “Augustinian Recollect Vocation Year.” ............The Philippines website of the Augustinian Recollects is:
Japanese martyrs
............Their beatification was unanimously approved by those present. The final decision is now in the hands of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. ............How soon he will make an announcement is not known. ............However, the preparation for the beatification is well underway in the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, which will host a beatification ceremony for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church in Japan. ............For APAC, a new short biography was written about the Japanese Augustinian martyr, Blessed Thomas Jihyoe O.S.A. It is available at: http://www.augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=1331&iParentid=756 .............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
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 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.
APAC Cross-cultural Immersion Program, November 2007 ............APAC is offering for the first time a six-day Cross Cultural Immersion Program. This will take place near Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines on 11th-19th November 2007 (See maps below).
............It is expected that participants will be APAC religious and educators involved with social justice. ............The program is being prepared by the APAC Commission on Justice and Peace, and will be centred at the Mother Rita Homes II at Candau-ay, Dumaguete City. Two of a number of addresses during the program will be given by Sr Carmeli Ma. Catan of the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation (Commission Chair) and Fr Tony Banks O.S.A. of Australia (Commission Vice-Chair). ............The Immersion Program aims to offer the participants four benefits. ............The first benefit is an experience on how to install a responsive and relevant induction program for agents of community development; ............The second is an initial opportunity to develop and write an effective community development curriculum focusing on fostering cross-cultural understanding, peace and sustainable community development; ............The third is an experience in planning to install an efficient and effective implementation, supervision and evaluation system for the project and expand the prototype model for wider community replication. ............The fourth benefit is an exposure to a cross-cultural experience of immersion to a sustainable community development model. ............Three full days of the program are devoted exclusively to a direct immersion experience. ............For further information and enrolment procedures for the program, contact the APAC Secretariat in Manila at apacphil@yahoo.com
Augustinians of the Assumption, Korea
...........Joseph is the first Korean-born Augustinian of the Assumption to become a deacon. In the normal course of events, his priestly ordination should occur in Spring 2008. ...........He is one of two Assumptionist seminarians studying theology at the major seminary in Gwangju, and a third is undertaking taking two years for novitiate and language study in France. In recent times, two other Koreans have successfully applied for postulancy. ...........The Assumptionists arrived in Korea in 1991, and opened their monastery in Gwangju in October 2005. The Congregation opened their first house in the Philippines at Manila in January 2006.
Nagasaki, Japan
............Noritoku was ordained to the deaconate in a religious service that also involved one priest candidate and two diaconal candidates of the Archdiocese of Nagasaki.
............He is the second member of his family in the Order of Saint Augustine, as his brother became an Augustinian priest last year. .............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
Vicariate of the Orient
............After recent preparatory studies, the decision was made to give initial priority to the restoration of the stone walls of the inner cloister of the monastery, and to the restoration of the windows on the first and second level of its inner corridors. This work began in October 2006, and is due for completion in February 2007. ............Subsequent stages of the work will be more comprehensive and much more expensive. This includes the repair and improvement of drainage around the buildings, which are 400 years old, and work on the roof. ............Within the monastery the famed Museum of San Agustin, under the direction of Fr Pedro Galende O.S.A., is presenting a display of a hundred archival photographs that show some of the history of the church and monastery. These heritage-listed buildings were constructed by the Order of Saint Augustine between 1587 and 1606. ............As well as the museum, the monastery houses the Augustinians who attend to the Church of San Agustin, and also novices of the Vicariate of the Orient and the Delegation of Tanzania, both of which jurisdictions are part of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus (the “Philippines Province”). ............For thirty photographs of the Order of Saint Augustine in Intramuros, choose the photo gallery named Philippines: Intramuros after you click here: http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6
Province of Cebu ............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 (above) are now completed. 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 will be the refectory and kitchen. The basement would contain the utility rooms. ............At the left will be the chapel building. Its upper floor will house the chapel proper, while the lower floor will be smaller conference rooms and counselling rooms. ............Beyond the chapel to the top-left edge of the drawing is shown three small buildings, two of which are dormitories for single or double occupancy, and one building is intended for group occupancy. ............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
New Augustinian Delegation of India
..........The delegation begins with three Augustinian communities in India’s 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. Two Augustinian priest and a deacon live there. ..........A fourth community now esists in temporary qusrters near a primary and secondary school of 900 students that the Order has acquired in the adjacent State of Tamil Nadu.The school is named "Sembagam Metric Higher Secondary School" { Run by Augustinian Fathers}. ..........In recent times, Augustinian ministry in India was recommenced about twenty years ago by the Vicariate of the Orient, which is based at Intramuros, Manila, Philippines. This Vicariate is part of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus, which began in Spain to evangelize Asia in 1575, and has popularly long been called the “Philippines Province” (although always based in Spain). ..........With the new administrative and juridical arrangement, the Vicariate of the Orient and the Delegation of India will be equal partners within the same Province. Even so, the Delegation of India has been promised the continued support of the Vicariate of the Orient from which it grew. ..........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 ... Augustinian Nuns at Tabalong
..........The new building is part of the Cassiciacum Retreat Venue that these Augustinian contemplative nuns conduct. It can accommodate two retreat groups at once, or one large group with up to 95 persons. The building was erected in four months. ..........Requests for information about retreat opportunities at the Monastery can be mailed to the nuns at P.O. Box 99 Tabalong-Dawis, Bohol, Philippines. Some information is available on the Internet at http://www.osa-tabalong.org/nuns ..........The Augustinian Monastery has a formation team of four professed nuns, and prepares candidates from the Philippines up to the stage of simple profession. After that, nuns can move to the mother house at Modigliana, Italy, founded in 1548. . Masters Program in Augustine A summer program leading to a Master of Arts degree in the study of St Augustine has begun at the Saint Augustine Centre of Studies (SACS - see photo below) at Quezon City in Metro Manila. There are choices of outcome available within the program. These give different options such as equipping the student to teach Augustine to others, or else preparing the student for further studies in Augustine at a doctoral level. For example the option that leads to a Master of Arts in Teaching Augustine studies Augustinian pedagogy, Neo-Platonism, Augustinian metaphysics and Augustine’s theory of knowledge. It then surveys Augustine’s sermons, letters, and major books. The full program is expected to require three summers of classes by each student, and variously also some comprehensive examinations or the writing of a thesis. ............Students from overseas or other parts of the Philippine can apply for summer accommodation as SACS (photo at right), depending on its availability. The next courses will be offered in April-May 2007. ............The four projected Institute courses for Summer (April – May) 2007 are: ............Special Questions on St. Augustine (Augustine and the Bible) (3units). Lecturer: Sr. Niceta Vargas, OSA, PhD (Catholic University of Louvain, Belguim): April 16 – 20, 2007. ............St. Augustine in Modern World (3 units). Lecturer: Fr. John Paul Szura, OSA, PhD (Illinois Institute of Technology / Fordham University, USA): April 24 – 27, 2007. ............St. Augustine on Memory (3 units). Lecturer: Macario Ofilada, PhD (University of Salamanca, Spain): Classes on two days per week. ............St. Augustine and Mysticism (3units). Lecturer: Fr. Andrew Batayola, OSA, MA, MTh Spirituality (Catholic Institute of Sydney, Australia): May 7 –12, 2007. ..........Printed information on the course in general and in particular, plus enrolment details, are available in a brochure that may be obtained by writing to the St Thomas of Villanova Institute of Philosophy, Saint Augustine Center of Studies, Fisheries Street, Visayas Avenue, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines, or by contacting the Director, Fr Rene Deliarte O.S.A. at stviphilo@yahoo.com .
Augustinian Sisters of God's Mercy .........The Augustinian Sisters of God's 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 1946, but the congregation is now entirely Indonesian in membership. They have fourteen communities and a total of 105 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. ..........The Sisters had a General Chapter with the election of the new Mother Superior General and the Council. The chapter took place at their mother house on 5th-15th February 2007.
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 one community serving with members of the Delegation of Papua of the Order of Saint Augustine. ...........Sr Augustini (the general superior at that time) and Sr Gabriella Titin (APAC liaison person) attended the APAC Convention in Incheon, Korea in July 2005...
A historical reconsideration
..........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 of 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: ..........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.
Augustinian Parish, Mareeba, Australia
..........For centuries the location of this statue of the Santo Niño has been the Augustinian minor basilica at Cebú, and there is great devotion to the Santo Niño throughout the Philippines, and in all parts of the world where there are Fiilipino communities. ..........An annual Santo Niño festival is celebrated in the Augustinian Parish of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It most recently took place at the 10.00am Mass in St Thomas of Villanova Church, Mareeba on Sunday, 21st January 2007. The focus of the feast is on the child Jesus who lived quietly and humbly for his redemptive mission in the world. ..........The church was full, and many Filipino people had travelled from throughout the Diocese of Cairns to share in the celebration. Augustinian priest Fr Jun Belocura O.S.A. (see photo), a native of Cebu who has been based in Sydney for the past three years, came to Mareeba for the festival and presided at the Mass. As a prelude to the festival a novena with the rosary and other prayers was held in the church each day from Friday, 12th January until Saturday, 20th January.
..........Fr Jun gave a very animated homily on the gospel reading, and spoke of how devotion to the Santo Niño relates to the church family. The singing at Mass was led by a number of the Filipino community, who sang a number of hymns in a Filipino dialect. Following Mass the statue of the statue of the Santo Niño de Cebu was carried in procession around the church and school grounds as followers recited the Rosary.
Augnet ..........It now carries over 1,240 pages of text, which also contain over 1,555 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. ..........About 1,950 large images in extensive photo galleries illustrate of Augustinian events and places internationally. The photo galleries most recently added illustrate Augustinian ministry in India, London (England) and at the Escorial (Spain). ..........Between August 2002 and April 2006 Augnet served 63,000 different hosts/URLs, and presumably many of these hosts have visited Augnet more than once. ..........These hosts downloaded 734,000 pages of Augnet. This was an average of 17,000 pages per month, 580 pages per day and 24 pages per hour throughout that period of forty-four months. ..........By 29th February 2007 the total number of pages downloaded had reached 1,125,682 pages. ..........There were 26,212 separate visits to the Augnet website during the calendar month of January 2007, which is an average of almost 840 visitors a day. ..........For the first time, on 12th October 2006 Augnet received 1,000 visitors within one twenty-four period. On 12th January 2007 there was a new daily record of 1,411 visitors. 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:
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