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Archdiocese of Cebu Commission on Youth

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:55:35 +0000

The youth ministry and program in the Archdiocese of Cebu began in 1978. His Eminence Julio Cardinal Rosales, then Archbishop of Cebu, appointed Rev. Fr. (now Msgr.) Roberto “Boy” Alesna as the Chairperson of the Youth Welfare Services (YWS) under Cebu Caritas Incorporated.

YWS initiated a youth convention on September 24, 1978. The convention was able to identify programs that the YWS were to implement: sports development, liturgical activities, education/ formation, cultural presentation, social action, research and evaluation.

Prior to the convention in 1978, a situational analysis of the youth ministry in the archdiocese was made which led to the creation of the Cebu Diocesan Youth Coordinating Council (CDYCC). This was the first organized attempt to put the structure of the archdiocese’s youth ministry. The CDYCC then served as the implementing arm of all youth plans and programs in the archdiocese.

In line with the same structure, another transitory attempt to strengthen and expand the CDYCC was made in 1984. It aimed the creation of a district level organizational set-up with the six districts represented by 3 youth leaders, one from the North, Metro-Cebu and South respectively. The plan was conceived through conventions and series of district consultations. However, the attempt was not sustained due to lack of organized vicarial and parochial based youth groups.

In 1985, His Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal convoked the Fourth Diocesan Synod of Cebu. In preparation to this event, the Youth Welfare Services was elevated as the Commission on Youth (COY). The Synod declared the COY as an official member of the Pastoral Planning Board and as ex-officio member of the Presbyterial Council since 1986. The structure and functions of the newly created commission were articulated in the Declaration of Statutes and Observations on the Youth on pages 110-112 of the Synodal Handbook.

After the Synod, an organizational structure was formulated to be set-up in the Archdiocesan, District, Vicarial and Parochial levels. The structures are being followed until now with some modifications however. In the districts, for example, there is an addition of a youth coordinator who serves as medium of information from the COY to his/her district and vice-versa. Young priests are also requested to serve as spiritual directors to these youth coordinating councils. These modifications are contained in the Ratified and Approved Resolutions made during the 1st Cebu Archdiocesan Youth Congress in October 19, 2002.

Msgr. Alesna served as the COY chairman until 1988. Rev. Fr. (now Msgr.) Guillermo “Jimboy” Gorre took over the commission in July 1988. In Msgr. Gorre’s term, the apostolate catered to 7 districts, 21 vicariates and 123 parishes and even the schools. Campus ministry was a separate program until the creation of the COY.

After Msgr. Gorre, Cardinal Vidal appointed Rev. Fr. Vicente “Junie” Tupas as chairperson who was able to serve the commission for eight years starting in 1993. Fr. Tupas’s term saw the institutionalization of the Local World Youth Day (LWYD) celebrations and establishment of coordination with the Episcopal Commission on Youth – National Secretariat on Youth Apostolate. The archdiocese also hosted the National Conference of Youth Ministers in 2000.

Due to the vast scope of the COY’s apostolate, it was then decided that the campus ministry be inducted as a separate organization. The Archdiocesan Campus Ministry maintains a coordinating tie with the COY. It is presently under the direction of Rev. Fr. Jesus B. Reyes.

Presently, the Commission on Youth is chaired by Msgr. Arturo R. Navales who took the office on September 1, 2001. Msgr. Navales initiated the creation of the Family of United and Empowered Leaders (FUEL) in 2004. It paved the way of a more collaborative relationship with transparochial and covenanted youth communities. FUEL has been officially recognized as a special district or “District 8” in the COY organizational set-up. COY is forming, organizing, and mobilizing young people in 141 parishes clustered in 23 vicariates as well as FUEL.

The three (3) youth congresses initiated by the Commission on Youth in 2002, 2003 and 2004 have articulated the urgent and pressing needs of the young people in the archdiocese. The first and second congresses gave way to the creation of the Approved and Ratified Resolutions and formulated the By-Laws and Constitution for parish and district levels respectively. These fruits are now contained in the “Handbook for the Youth,” which has become a manual of instructions for the youth leaders and for priests who work in the youth ministry.

The 3rd youth congress was convoked mainly to respond the statutes for the Archdiocesan Commission on Youth stated in the 4th Diocesan Synod of Cebu, which assert that, “The Commission on Youth shall initiate and/or strengthen developmental projects that will generate income for the unemployed youth in the Archdiocese,” and, that “The Committee on Formation shall prepare and/or develop youth training modules for development of skills and management of small business.” (Statutes 121 & 122).

Hence the Commission on Youth in its attempt to cater to the needs of the out-of-school youth, it took the challenge in establishing this skills training center, called the Archdiocesan YouthLinks Training and Assessment Center, located at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, Escario St. , Cebu City.

Now it offers Basic Computer Literacy Course, Desktop Publishing Course and Basic Computer Programming Course and other advanced courses for those who are really poor and cannot pursue their studies to colleges and universities.

In June 2007, Rev. Fr. Kit Sestoso was appointed by Cardinal Vidal as assistant chairman of the COY. To date, the Commission on Youth has eighteen (18) active youth members, including the Archdiocesan Youth Coordinator and the Archdiocesan Youth Leader.

Assumption College

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:41:09 +0000

The Assumption College is a private, Catholic women’s college in Makati City, Philippines established in 1959. It provides education from pre-school to graduate level.

Saint Marie Eugenie Milleret de Brou established the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption as a means to make a Christian transformation of society through education.

The Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption was founded in Paris on the 30th of April 1839, by Saint Marie Eugenie Milleret de Brou (1817-1898).

The Religious of the Assumption first came to the Philippines in 1892. At the request of Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, they established the Superior Normal School for Women Teachers in Intramuros in 1892 which pioneered women education in the Philippines. Among its first and only graduates were Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, Foundress of the Instituto de Mujeres; Librada Avelino and Carmen de Luna, who founded Centro Escolar University. At the outbreak of the Revolution of 1898 the operation of the school was stopped and the Sisters returned to Europe.

At the request of St. Pius X, a group of English-speaking Assumption Sisters returned to Manila in 1904. With the group of Sisters were Mother Helen Margaret as Superior, and Mother Rosa Maria who subsequently spent sixty-one of her seventy years of religious life in the Religious of the Assumption in Asia. The Sisters opened the Assumption Convent in Herran-Dakota, Malate, as an elementary and secondary school. The College was added in 1940.

World War II destroyed practically the whole school in the liberation of Manila in 1945. Classes resumed in quonset huts and in a battered auditorium in Herran. Mother Rosa Maria brought Assumption Manila back to its feet and relaunched it in 1947 when reconstruction began. The College reopened in 1948.

In 1958, the sisters opened Assumption San Lorenzo in Makati to ease the ever-increasing student population. The College was moved there in 1959.

After some time, the Herran site was sold as the area was becoming a commercial center in a tourist belt and was no longer conducive to learning. In 1972-73, four of the San Lorenzo teachers were transferred to pave the way for merging elementary schools and secondary schools of Herran and San Lorenzo. In 1973-74, the Herran and San Lorenzo schools fused: the High School and the College were based in San Lorenzo while the Preschool and Grade School briefly occupied Herran, then temporarily moved to San Lorenzo in June, 1974. Finally the Grade School settled in Antipolo along Sumulong Highway on September 11, 1974. The Preschool stayed with the High School and College of San Lorenzo. However the distance between Antipolo and Manila became a problem to parents who wanted Assumption education for their children. The persistent appeal of the alumni and parents to re-open the elementary level in San Lorenzo was heeded. Grade 1 was re-opened in 1981 and starting school year 1988-89 grade levels were added until the San Lorenzo Grade School graduated its first Grade 7 students in March 1993.

In line with the spirit of Vatican II, and in response to the call of the Church in the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines and the needs of the country, the Assumption in the Philippines has moved towards the rural areas and the under-privileged sector, without abandoning the education of the upper/middle classes. The majority of its schools, campus ministries, and community development works are now among farmers, tribal minorities, and the urban poor.

Colegio de San Juan de Letran

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:37:27 +0000

Colegio de San Juan de Letran emerged from the fusion of two similar institutions both located in Intramuros.

The first was founded in 1620 by Don Juan Geronimo Guerrero, a retired Spanish Officer, who transformed his hermitage home into an orphanage called the Colegio de Niños Huerfanos de San Juan de Letran. Its purpose was to educate and mold orphans into good Christian citizens.

At about the same time, another institution by the name of Colegio de Huerfanos de San Pedro y San Pablo was established by the Dominican brother Diego de Santa Maria at the Convent of Santo Domingo.

The founders of these two institutions with identical origin and purpose did not only share a common concern for the children of Intramuros but they were also linked by strong bonds of friendship. It was not surprising therefore that their institutions were merged into one even in their lifetime in 1630 and became known simply as the Colegio de San Juan de Letran.

The name San Juan de Letran was inspired from the major basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, mother of all Christian churches. Early in the history of the College, its chapel was granted many of the privileges enjoyed by the major Basilica. Saint John the Baptist for whom the Basilica is named, is also the patron saint of the College.

In 1690, Letran was declared as an ecclesiastical college. In 1738, six scholarships were granted by the King of Spain for Chinese, Japanese, and Tongkinese (Vietnamese) students. St. Vicente Liem de la Paz was among the students who enjoyed this scholarship.

A royal decree of May 1865 pronounced Letran as a College of the First Class. The school’s curriculum was reviewed and revised according to European and American patterns in 1886. Further expansion took place in 1894 and adjustments were made with the arrival of the Americans in 1900.

In 1937, a three-storey building replaced the old structure. The growth of the Colegio was temporarily arrested when the building was bombed in 1941 and then turned into a garrison by the Japanese army in 1944. The Colegio was temporarily housed in the Dominican church and convent of San Juan del Monte. After the war in 1946, Letran returned to its home in Intramuros.

In a span of more than three centuries, Letran produced alumni who became the builders of the Filipino nation. The names of Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo del Pilar, Padre Mariano Gomez, Francisco Baltazar, Emilio Aguinaldo, and many others are enshrined in the hearts of every Filipino.

Colegio de San Juan de Letran has faithfully lived up to her mission. No revolution nor earthquakes, no world war nor man-made disasters have broken or changed the resolve of our Dominican administrators to continue this noble task of providing excellent christian education. Countless great men have passed and will continue to pass through the portals of this old venerable institution – revolutionaries, heroes and patriots, presidents, leader of the church and most notable of all, a saint. In its long history, there will always be the successes as well as challenges for Letran. But for years and generations beyond, in the end, Letran will remain standing as a cut above the rest – proud of its heritage and sure of the time – honored and enshrined ideals of DEUS, PATRIA, LETRAN.

San Beda College

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:18:44 +0000

San Beda College, a Catholic educational institution, is committed to the Christian formation of the Bedan Community as its service to the Church, the Philippine society, and the world.

San Beda College Envisions a community that is fully human, wholly Christian, truly Filipino and globally competitive.

San Beda College aims to form its members in faith (fides), knowledge (scientia), virtue (virtus) and inculcate in them the Benedictine core values of prayer and work (ora et labora) that include study, community and pursuit of peace.

St. Paul University (Manila)

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:16:08 +0000

St. Paul University Manila (SPU Manila) is one of the educational institutions owned and administered by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (SPC).

The University started out originally in 1911 as a Novitiate, a training center for young Filipino women wishing to become Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, on a swampy piece of land in Malate. The next year, 1912, the school ,first named St. Paul Institution, started with a kindergarten class upon the request of families in the neighborhood. The elementary started in 1913, the high school in 1924, and the college department in 1936. In 1940, the school’s name was changed to St. Paul College of Manila.

In 1957, SPCM became a Charter member of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). It also became the first school in the Philippines to be PAASCU-accredited.

In 1970, the university started to concentrate on higher education by first moving out its Kindergarten Department and thus helped create St. Paul College Pasig. The Grade School and High School departments followed in 1972 and 1986 respectively.

In 1975, the school became one of the founding members of the Inter-Institutional Consortium. Now called the South Manila Consortium and composed of De la Salle University Manila, St. Scholastica’s College Manila, Philippine Christian University, Philippine Normal University, and Adamson University. The SMC is the oldest educational consortium in the Philippines and the oldest working consortium in Southeast Asia.

In 1992, the school was cited by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS) as one of the 17 excellent colleges and universities in the Philippines. In 2001, in recognition of its meritorious achievements in higher education, it was conferred an Award of Distinction and given full autonomy status for five years by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). In 2003, the school started its graduate programs and on February 10, 2004, the school became part of the St. Paul University System, the first university system in the Philippines recognized by CHED. The school name was then officially changed to St. Paul University Manila.

In May 2004, for the first time in the 100-year history of the SPC Congregation in the Philippines, the school had its first lay president, thus being the very first of Paulinian schools to be headed by a secular person.

The University’s history, since its founding in 1912 has been characterized by a pioneering spirit, driven by the tranquil daring reflective of its founders, always committed to living out Christ’s love through its educational endeavors.

The University is proud of its excellent programs and the many graduates who, over the years, have excelled in their fields of specialization or who have continued on to build Christian homes and nurture new generations in the spirit of love and compassion for others. St. Paul University Manila will continue its long and illustrious tradition of educational excellence and service to the Church, family, and society as it responds to the growing challenges of a technological and globalized world.

Cloud Tech for God: Cutting-Edge Technology for Spreading the Word

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:54:04 +0000

Isn’t it amazing that we are using the internet now because of the applications and resources that allows us to make work easier and accessible. And that knowledge of Cloud computing has been used by God even before this term has been invented. For example, all of us has different knowledge and skills, we can compare that to web-based applications. Now using ourselves as a resource to each other, humans created companies or communities to work together and generate cool and useful products. Making the work easier.

So this cloud computing was a knowledge to God-given for technology to excel and prosper in our time and in our world. By using now web-based internet resources, we could access our documents, photos, videos online. Saving up space in your own computers. Also, generating big savings from businesses who are now not investing on big server space. It offers a lot of flexibility.

And what more can we offer back to this knowledge? Use it for evangelization.. Because of cloud computing, there is a world full of resources out there on the web. Just by facing your computer and using these resources, you can actually become an online missionary.

Come on, just like how God is using Cloud Computing through us, we shall use cloud computing through the internet for Him.

Mercy Grass: Online Thoughts and Reflections by April Frances “Sky” A. Ortigas

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:50:15 +0000

April Frances “Sky” Asuncion Ortigas, 28
Birth: April 26, 1982
My family calls me “pangga”
Friends call me “sky” (close ones deleted the “y” and added “ie”.. “skie“)
I am a Missionary for the CFC International Missions Office under Couples For Christ Global Missions Foundation Inc.
I am also a coffee addict, Web designer, and a Jesus freak.
We also a have a small business called “tickledgreen” which specialized in events and designs. My Hometown: Iloilo City, Philippines

LIFE VERSE:
Matthew 5:16
In the same way your light must shine before others, so that they may see the good you do and praise your Father in Heaven.

BLOG, JOURNAL
Started last 2003(xanga) through the inspiration of brothers and sisters in the community, friends, and people who blog and love the web. I write my thoughts, my experiences, my reflections as I go and travel/journey this life with Jesus (that includes the people I meet and share life with!). As I walk with Him, I learn, I grow, I live, I praise, I glorify.

I share each thought, each dream, each inspiration, even each hurt to glorify Him and only Him.

WHY MERCYGRASS?
I would always imagine paradise with lots and lots of grasses. I would always imagine stepping my bare toes on those grasses as God’s mercy rain on me. I’m showered by His mercy.. There I was running around the field of grasses and catching the rain of God’s mercy in my life..

It’s my way of reflecting God’s love and mercy to all of us. His Mercy for me is more than the Grasses in the field. And I am here to reveal each love that He is pouring in my life and my mission as He is making me the woman that He wants me to be.

LOSING ONESELF
To lose the self is to suddenly realize that you are something other than what you thought you were. You thought you were at the center; now you experience yourself as satellite. You thought you were the dancer; you now experience yourself as the dance.

I quote one of my favorite authors. Anthony de Mello. It says everything I want to experience and want to share to others….

Jesus Christ Follower: Missionary Stories for the Everyday Christian

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:46:25 +0000

This website promotes and inspires the endless stories of transformation and encounter with our Jesus Christ. He has and will always be the source and foundation of all the missionary works and stories.

Jesus Christ Follower will journey with you as missionaries dedicating your life for the mission of Christ. Finding the meaning of Christ in the everydayness of our lives, changing one life, one day at a time, for the Christ that we follow.

Couples for Christ International Mission

CatholicSites — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:42:24 +0000

Couples for Christ (CFC) is an International Association of the Catholic Faithful that has been granted official recognition by the Holy See. CFC is governed by the International Council in accordance to its statutes as described in the official website of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Related posts:Couples for Christ Jesus Christ Follower: Missionary [...] Related posts:

Servants of the Lord’s Vineyard

CatholicSites — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:17:56 +0000

SOLV is a way of life. A life based on how Jesus lives, Servanthood, Obedience, Love and Victory.

Fundamental Convictions
* What we are is the result of our response to an invitation to God
* Founding prophecies (John 15: 1-10)
* Our Response, our Decision
* Community and Covenant : Our Strength

We received basic teachings on faith and Christian life in the Community. Through the Community structure, we were helped to understand these teachings and to put them into practice. We were placed under the care of pastoral leaders who with their support enabled us to internalize the teachings and to align our lives with Scripture.

We also accepted the covenant that the Lord made with us. The covenant helped us to be focused and to pursue single-heartedly our vision and mission.

The Age We Live In
* It is an age of moral decay and spiritual decline. SOLV offers an alternative way of life… a counter-culture.
* It is an age of intense spiritual awakening. We are called to spiritual heroism – be a saint. (Joshua 1: 6-7; Rev. 7: 3, 9-17) We are called to total obedience and dependency to God. ( John 15: 5) We are called to discipleship. (John 15:13)
* God made us a new creation. (John 3: 3-5; 2Cor. 5:17; Eph.4:22 – 24)
* Our response: 1 John 4:19 “We love, because he first loved us.” RSV.