Since our last communiqué, our life here in the Philippines continues to be filled with many blessings and many challenges. Our celebration of Christmas was one of those joyous events. During the week before Christmas, we took a community excursion to the nearby province of Laguna. Our guide for the day was a man named Veni who is a friend of Serge. He showed some of the beautiful sites of Laguna. It was good to have a “community day” on which we went out and explored other areas of this beautiful country. Our celebration of Christmas itself found us offering Masses at the various convents and chapels. We enjoyed a delicious dinner on Christmas Eve at our favorite local restaurant Josephine’s. On Christmas Day, we joined the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd for Christmas dinner.

 Just after Christmas we learned that Fr. Alirio had been named the provincial of the Eudist province of Colombia. While it is the good fortune of the confreres of Colombia, it was sad news for us in the Philippines. Alirio had already adjusted to life here and had made great progress in English. He made some major contributions to our formation plan for Eudist candidates in the Philippines. He was giving conferences to the seminarians of the diocese and giving retreats to some Sisters. He is sadly missed in our community but we wish him well and assure him of our prayers in his new responsibilities.

 Once again, the departure of Fr. Alirio points to the fragility of our personnel situation. Reduction in our personnel has a big impact on our efforts to implant the Congregation in the Philippines. At the same time, we are confident that, as the new provincial of Colombia, he will be able to find other Eudists to join our mission here. We feel like we have a strong advocate in the province of Colombia.

Our first Christmas tree

Alirio with seminarians

Our day in Laguna

Farewell Mass

Leaving on a tricycle

The beginning of February found us welcoming visitors from France. Frs. Jean Camus and Francois Jourdan arrived on February 5 to spend a week with us. Fr. Jean made his first visit to the Philippines as provincial of France. Fr. Francois came to see his future home. He will move to Tagaytay in September to take the place of Fr. Pierre who will return to France. Both visitors seemed to enjoy the visit and got a good impression of the challenges and graces that we experience here.

 While they were with us, we celebrated the Eudist Feast of the Heart of Mary. Our community joined the four Good Shepherd communities of the province of Cavite. The celebration began at Maryridge with Mass at which Fr. Pierre presided and preached the homily. Concelebrating with him were Frs. Jean, Francois and Ron. Following the Mass, a delicious dinner was served. And, of course, plenty of pictures were taken.

Dinner at Josephine's

With college seminarians

Sunset over Manila Bay

We hope that you are benefiting from this holy season of Lent. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Be assured that we remember you in our prayers. May our prayers for each other during this season of Lent lead us to a joyful celebration of Easter.

 

The Eudist Community of Ave Cor
75 Smokey Hill Drive
Maharlika East
4120 Tagaytay, Cavité (Philippines).

Ron Bagley – rmbagley@yahoo.com
Pierre Marchand – marchand.pierre@netcourrier.com
Serge Kabamalan – cskabamalan@gmail.com