Redemptorists to celebrate centenary of presence in Asia

The Redemptorist Church Congregation in Cebu is set to celebrate this June 28 its 100 years of missionary presence in the Philippines and in the whole of Asia.

A series of activities has been lined up for the occasion. Important religious officials are expected to attend the said celebration.

Rev. Fr. Cris Mostaju, provincial Vicar for Visayas and Mindanao, said that the three-day celebration will open with a Novena Mass to be celebrated by the visiting Redemptorist conferrers from other countries.

The Father General of the Redemptorist Congregation, Rev. Fr. Joseph Tobin, is also expected to attend the said activity including delegates from other Redemptorist churches in other countries.

At around 3:00 p.m. on the said date, a talk on "Redemptorist in the Philippines 1906-2006" by Father Karl Gaspar will be made at the St. Alphonsus Seminary gym, and will be followed shortly by a program in an atmosphere of a barrio fiesta, also in the said place, as a sort of welcome to the visitors.

Mostaju said that on June 29, all delegates will have their pilgrimage to Opon at around 8:30 a.m. to be followed by a Eucharistic celebration with Fr. Jovencio Ma, the provincial superior of Redemptorists in the Cebu province.

A cultural show will also be held at the St. Theresa's Auditorium to be staged by arts group "Kaliwat". On June 30, there will be a gathering of Redemptorists at the Holy Family Retreat House to "renew old friendships, share stories and just be together."

There will also be a Ligouri lecture to be conducted by Fr. Amado Picardal at the St. Theresa's College Auditorium. The celebration will culminate with a Eucharistic Mass with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal as the main celebrant and Rev. Fr. Tobin as the preacher at around 5:30 p.m.

On July 1, there will also be an assembly in the presence of Rev. Fr. Tobin for Redemptorists in the province of Cebu and Manila as they continue to look up to another hundred years of their missionary presence in the country and in the whole of Asia.

The Redemptorist Congregation has been known to have molded responsible citizens, with its missionaries and priests known to have sacrificed their lives in the service of the people.

The Redemptorist congregation has greatly contributed to the welfare of the Cebuanos through the confessionals where people come to make changes in their lives to make them better Cebuanos and Filipinos.

The congregation has been giving missions throughout Cebu since 1913 and has established the first parochial Catholic school in the whole diocese in 1916 - the St. Alphonsus Catholic School - in Lapu-Lapu City, and the St. Alphonsus Seminary in 1961 located at the Redemptorist Road.

The congregation has not only helped in looking after the spiritual but also the physical, cultural and social welfare of Cebuanos in times of great political turmoil by sheltering the Cebuanos whose houses were destroyed during the Japanese war and in serving as a refuge to the original image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu during that era.

The congregation has also been active in ridding Cebu City of vices, like illegal drugs, and in extending social services, food, medicine and scholarship to people in dire need. - Jasmin R. Uy