Go La Salle - fight!

Catholic schools’ job is to produce saints - Bishop Soc

MANILA, Philippines - The mark of a good Catholic school is not the capacity to produce celebrities, politicians or businessmen, Archbishop Socrates Villegas reminded the new president and new chancellor of De La Salle University (DLSU) on Tuesday.

Rather, he said, "it is the ability to create saints."

Quite a tall order for DLSU’s new president, Bro. Narciso S. Erguiza, and its new chancellor, Bro. Ricardo P. Laguda, who were formally installed Thursday night. "The duty of a Catholic school is not to produce celebrities - it is to produce holiness in society," Villegas said during the Mass celebrated an hour before Erguiza’s and Laguda’s investiture at the Most Blessed Sacrament Chapel on the university’s Taft Avenue campus.

"Let La Salle produce not just good businessmen. Let La Salle produce not just good public officials. Let La Salle produce saints," Villegas told the two, who assumed the posts vacated by Bro. Armin Luistro, now education secretary...
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I've often teased some of my close Lasallite friends that Letran (my elem-high school alma mater), has already produced a Saint - San Vicente Liem De La Paz, who was martyred while on a mission. Four presidents also studied in Letran: Aguinaldo, Quezon, Osmena and Laurel. Well, there are also Hero-Letranites in Marcelo Del Pilar, Emilio Jacinto, Apolinario Mabini, and Francisco Balagtas. Bishop Soc by the way, was also my high school batchmate in Letran. Now, how about Lasalle? I tease my Atenean son too that Rizal wanted to study in Letran but he was not accepted, so he was kicked-out to Ateneo :-)

All in good-natured ribbing only, of course. La Salle continues with its tradition of academic excellence, and has consistently figured in honorable rankings among Asia's top universities. Being in HR, I know for a fact that IT and Engineering graduates from Lasalle are prized hires, and they do have a great track record in producing topnotch entrepeneurs. This is already a given, so that Bishop Soc was emphasizing the need for the university to produce saints. I remember our QC Councilor Joseph Juico - a self-professed devout Catholic, priding himself as a loyal LaSallite through and through, and yet he principally sponsored the controversial QC RH ordinance.

Now we have ex-LaSalle president Bro. Armin Luistro being thrust in the spotlight as Education Secretary. He is encountering a maelstrom in there, but it remains to be seen what would be his stand in the DepEd sex-education brouhaha. Tough. As this Sunday's gospel reads: "You cannot serve both God and mammon".

Lastly, LaSalle deserves credit for producing great basketball teams. I remember their basketball cheering chant during the NCAA heydays: "O when La Salle, goes marching in..." - an offshoot of the gospel hymn "O when the saints, goes marching in...". I guess they have to revisit that chant. Go La Salle!

What Jesus' voice means

The Good Shepherd
Sunday, April 25, 2010
John 10:27-30

Once on a brief trip to Barcelona, I was strolling along the famous Las Ramblas strip one chilly morning. I craved for a hot cup of coffee so I ducked into a small cafeteria which was the only one open in those early hours. In my fractured Spanish, I tried explain to the only waitress around that I wanted a hot cup of brewed coffee with no cream. She replied in a rapid stream of Catalan, and it was evident that she didn't quite understand my simple order. As I tried to explain again rather futilely, a sudden understanding seemed to dawn upon her as she inquired: "Teka, Pilipino ka?". It turned out she was a compatriot, and must have noticed my quaint intonation. In a very short while, I had my steaming café caliente, plus some hot buns on the house.

Of the many distinctions in the human body, the larynx is quite notable in that equips each one of us with distinctive voices and intonations. The larynx is not confined to humans as animals also possess it in their anatomy, although only the human voice has the versatility in producing a rich variety of tones and pitches in varying modulations. Humans can even mimic the sounds of birds and animals but the reverse is not true, except perhaps in a limited way for some breeds of birds. That makes human voices superior among living things. Knowing this, a guy once taunted a talking mynah: "Hey stupid parrot! Can you talk ha? ha? c'mon show me".. The bird replied: "Who's stupid? Of course I can talk, but can you fly?".

Our voices also appear to be unique for each individual. Some years ago, I attended a Letran high school reunion party. Most of us haven't seen each other in 25 years. I had a very hard time recognizing faces, as many of us had radically changed appearances, especially in the hair and waistline departments. It's amazing how people have changed, more so when you compare with their old yearbook photos. The funny thing about it is that their raucous voices sounded the same after all those years. Although I had difficulty in recognizing their appearances, I found out that I could recall them when I paid attention to their voices.

In today's Gospel Jesus said: "My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.". Too bad there weren't any audio recording devices in those biblical times. I imagine the Good Shepherd's voice must be a booming, rich baritone as depicted so often in the movies. As the shepherd tends to hundreds of sheep, his voice must be clearly heard even by the farthest one in the flock. In our own reality, Jesus' voice is expressed in soft and subtle ways, but it can be quite clear if we pay enough attention. Sometimes it can be a child crying. A plea for help. A call to serve. An unexpected blessing. An answered prayer. The Good Shepherd speaks to us in many ways, and we should be able to understand what His voice means.

It means Love, and it never changes.
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Dominican's turn

What is similar about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?

They were both founded by Spaniards, St. Dominic for the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Jesuits. They were also both founded to combat heresy: the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the Protestants.

What is different about the Jesuit and Dominican Orders?

Well, have you met any Albigensians lately?

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The difference also appears to be that we won't be seeing any UST professors coming out in support of the RH bill.

According to this CBCP news report:

The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas (UST) will focus on the promotion of "faith and life issues" and continue to support the stand of the Filipino Bishops against the reproductive health bill. As a Catholic university of the Philippines, the Dominican-run UST will stress on "faith and life matters" more in the backdrop of the on-going debate on "Reproductive Health (RH)" bill pending in the Congress, said Fr. Filemon I. de la Cruz, Jr., Op, Vice-rector for Religious Affairs. Asked if UST professors, like that of the state-run University of the Philippines, Diliman and Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, would come up with an independent ‘position paper on RH bill’, De la Cruz said, "that would not happen." ...

Interesting, and most welcome. UST has a larger faculty than Ateneo. With 40,000 students, UST is the largest Catholic university in the world in one campus. Another interesting thing is that the Jesuits and the Dominicans appears to have this supposed rivalry that had its roots in a theological dispute about grace and free will. No wonder as I remember back in my high school days when Ateneo was still in the NCAA, our priests were as keen in cheering "ARRIBA LETRAN!" whenever we had a big game against Ateneo. Oh well...

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The joke above is obviously told from a Dominican perspective. The Jesuit response would be: "That's because we didn't use swords!"

Five bishops speak out

"The time to prepare ... is now"

"Corruption in such an extensive degree in the Philippines is a crime that cries to heaven for vengeance. Corruption in this country has become endemic, systemic, from top to bottom in government. Perhaps they may be given the punishment they deserve by the human justice system, but that’s not enough. Someone else in the Higher Authority will punish them as they deserve,"

- Archbishop Lagdameo

Very good and well said, Bishop.

A standout though, is another well-said snippet from one of my favorite high school batchmates.

"We are not here to bring you peace. We are here to disturb you. I’m praying to God that after this meeting, may the Lord trouble you because the trouble that comes from the Lord is going to make you a better person and it’s going to make the country a better country."

- Bishop Soc Villegas

Let's hope and pray that a lot of people are troubled, especially those whose consciences are not "blinded through the habit of committing sin" (CCC #1791)

Long lost schoolmate

I chanced upon an old high school batchmate last weekend near the parish. I haven't seen him in a long, long while - 30 years to be exact. In the private Catholic school we attended, he was a classmate in the our graduating class.

I called out his name, shook his hand. He was able to recognize me but he couldn't place my name. Its ok, after all, it was high school days since we last saw each other. It so happened his residence was just a few blocks away.

So we had this small talk. He inquired about me and I told him my wife and I are in active service in the parish as Family and Life Ministry coordinators. I have 4 kids now. He also inquired about my job, I told him I am still working fulltime as MIS manager in a manufacturing company. That's my wife over there, she's also working as IT director in a hospital. We are also active in Couples For Christ as Unit leaders.

My turn to ask him: "Ikaw pare kumusta ka na, saan ka ngayon?" (How about you, how are you, what are you doing these days?). I could sense though, that he appears to be troubled. He said he had 3 kids, but that he was out of work. He used to have one long ago, he continued: "Napaglipasan na ako ng panahon, 48 na ako, nalulon kasi ako sa mga kalokohan e..". Roughly translated: "Time has passed by me, I am already 48 years old, no job, nowhere to go, I guess I spent too much time on worldly things..".

I am surprised and at the same time saddened by his account. I thought he was one of those bright, up-and-coming guys back then in high school. So I simply told him: "E di lumapit ka sa Diyos.." (Then its about time you get closer to God"). I hinted that our Couples For Christ community is about to conduct a "Christian Life Program" seminar soon.

He was nonchalant though, and even commented "Wala akong hilig dyan e.." (I have no interest..). So I just took his address, and promised I will drop by his house one of these days, just to catch up and reminisce on the old school days - "sige, kwentuhan na lang tayo next time". I guess I have to prepare for that visit.

In the meantime, I hope he remembers the parable of the prodigal son from our religion class back then.