Mission World

01.10.2008

Material poverty need not quell priestly vocation, promoters say

Philippines (UCAN) - Young people in Oriental Mindoro province claim material needs keep them from entering the priesthood, but an indigenous local priest says it was in poverty that he found his vocation.

Fr Gabayno Oybad, the country’s first indigenous Mangyan priest, shared his story at a vocation congress in Manslay, 230kms south east of Manila. The 36-year-old priest, who was ordained last year, recounted his childhood in the mountains of Oriental Mindoro, where nuns and priests ran schools, medical clinics and community-development programs. He recalled being “afraid” of people who did not belong to his tribe until he saw nuns “work tirelessly day and night” helping Mangyan people.

This experience led him to wonder what drove them to work the way they did and attracted him to attend vocation campaigns. “It was in poverty where I found my vocation,” he told an audience of around 400 students from 15 local schools.

Participant Jay Pelaez, a graduating student at Leuteboro National High School, told reporters at the congress he wants to become a priest also, but needs to help support his family first. The situation is common in the area, according to Fr Patricio Bautista, Vocation Director at St Augustine Seminary.

“Even if some youth have a calling to the priestly or Religious life, they opt to find a job and help their families,” he said.

More than 10% of Oriental Mindoro’s population was living in poverty, according to a 2006 National Statistical Coordination Board report. Seminary rector Fr Andy Peter Lubi recalled that 100 of 300 examinees passed last year’s entrance exam, but only 12 entered the seminary. He said a first-year college seminarian has to pay 10,000 pesos (US$219) per semester for board and lodging, and 8,000 for tuition and other fees.

However, even when benefactors were available, seminary applicants coming from “poor” villages often could not be accepted because of weak academic background, Fr Bautista pointed out.

The need to attend to material needs was a “common” reason given by test-takers who pass but do not proceed to enroll in the seminary, he said.

Bishop Florentino Lavarias of Iba, chairman of the Philippine bishops’ vocations commission commented, “At first you will feel dutiful, but if you are really being called, God will give you the graces to respond to your vocation,” he said.

Beatification of 188 Japanese martyrs in Nagasaki

Tokyo (FIDES) - The Catholic community in Japan is waiting expectantly for the beatification of 188 Martyrs on 24 November. The Pope’s representative, Cardinal Josè Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at the Mass for the beatification. It will be the first held in Japan.

The secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, Fr Manyo Maeda, read a message from Archbishop Takeo Okada of Tokyo, who is president of the Conference, “I hope we will keep in our hearts the authentic significance of the treasure of the faith handed on by our predecessors.” An estimated 20,000 Catholics are expected to attend the ceremony.

The Bishops said the example of the martyrs is precious today when religious freedom is often threatened and the family is under attack. The martyrs died defending their faith and their right to believe in Christ, opposing their persecutors with non-violence. “They were not human rights activists or political militants protesting against the regime. They were ordinary men and women of profound and genuine faith who gave their lives for their faith. They give us food for thought,” the Japanese Bishops said.

Of the 188 martyrs killed in the 17th century, 183 were lay men and women, five were priests. The cause for their beatification started in the 1980s and closed on June 1, 2007 with the approval of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the signature of Pope Benedict XVI.

Japanese Catholics hope the example of these Catholic martyrs will be an encouragement for all Christians in the land of the Rising Sun where Catholics are a small minority of 450,000 with 550,000 Catholic immigrant workers in Japan.

Mission Intention for October

That in this month dedicated to the Missions every Christian community may feel the need to share in the Church’s universal mission with prayers, sacrifices and material help.