|
Vocation
 Formation
The Province as a whole gives priority to formation. In fact, eight of
our fraternities are formation fraternities. We can say that we give
much of our time and effort to our formation. The entire formation
program of the Province is governed by a Ratio Formationis
inspired by the spiritual heritage of Franciscans in general and of
Capuchins in particular as gathered from the documentary sources.
This ratio was formulated and published in 1996 after a
period of experimentation. The formation program is the same for all
until perpetual profession. The formative journey covers the
following stages.
1. Aspirancy: 1 2 years outside the seminary
2. Postulancy: 2 years at our seminary in Lipa City, Batangas
3. Novitiate: 1 year in Baguio City
4. Postnovitiate Formation (PN): 4 years in the following
fraternities:
PN1 St. Pio Fraternity, Lipa City (Retreat
facilitation and Retreat House management)
PN2 St. Pio Formation House, Davao City (Immersion
with the poor and Interreligious Dialogue)
PN3 Exposure in our different fraternities
according to where one can develop his personal gifts and talents
PN4 Baluan, General Santos City (Preparation for
perpetual profession)
5. Special Formation: After perpetual profession
a. Philosophy Christ the King Seminary,Quezon City
b. Theology Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City
c. Professional and Skills Training for Perpetually Professed Brothers
 Apostolates
Our apostolate, in general, since the very beginning has been
identified with the parishes and schools. We have eight parishes and
three
of them are in Metro Manila.
Two of these parishes in Metro Manila have schools (Lourdes School, Q.C. and Lourdes School, Mandaluyong City) with a sizable enrolment
and are considered two of the very good schools in the country
today. During the past years there has been serious effort in the
part of the administrators to present the Franciscan and Capuchin
charism and to make the schools relevant to our time. Our parish
works consist mainly of ministering the sacraments, catechesis, evangelization,
and the
formation of basic ecclesial communities, etc.
Our recent foundations outside of Manila are in the direction of
non-parochial apostolates and more into presence and witness. In the South,
our foundations are fraternities of presence and houses of formation. During the
past years some of our friars have been sought as retreat directors
and facilitators which encouraged us to build a retreat center in Lipa City, Batangas and plunged ourselves into this new apostolate.
Also some of our brothers are involved in the Neo-Cathechumenal Way
and a few have had experience of being itinerant preachers and
evangelizers. There is also an emerging interest on Ecology and some
of our younger friars are involved in this endeavor.
As regards our relationship with other members of the Franciscan
family, we can say that we have developed during the past years a
strong bond with the First Order, Second Order and the sisters who
follow the Rulethe Third Order Regular. We have secular Franciscans
and Franciscan youth in most of our parishes and even in our houses
of presence. We have to mention that there are now three monasteries
of our Capuchin Poor Clares (Clarisas Capuchinas Sacramentarias) in
the Philippines whom we help in their spiritual needs.
Mission
The Province at present guides the Custody of Malaysia-Singapore
and considers China as its mission territory. It also
has a number of friars working officially in the mission: five friars
in the Middle East (Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE--in Abu Dhabi
and Dubai), one in the USA (Texas); one in Australia and one in
New Zealand. There is
also a renewed interest in the missionary spirit brought about by conscientization, formation and updating in the missionary activity
of the Order and the growing demand for missionaries from the
neighboring jurisdictions especially from the Pacific-Asia Capuchin
Conference - Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia-Singapore. Papua New
Guinea, New Zealand and Thailand. Locally, our presence in Mindanao especially among
Muslims and indigenous peoples has been given serious
consideration by the Province. We hope to begin a new foundation
in the near future among our countrymen in Mindanao.
Looking Towards The Future
There are four things
which we want to accomplish in the future, our dreams that we want
to realize:
1. To strengthen the present ministries of the
Province. Priority must be given to the strengthening of the local
fraternities in terms of personnel, fraternal life, witnessing and
apostolic effectiveness.
2. To animate not only the mission
ad intra
of the Province but also its missionary
impetus ad extra, as we continue to
hold a place of honor for our missionary charism.
Our gaze is focused on China and
other
mission areas in Asia and the Middle East.
3. To fulfill our long-cherished dream of establishing a custody in Mindanao.
4. To form our own Filipino formators whether here or abroad. Formation,
being our priority, should take into serious consideration the
formation of the formators themselves.
back to top |
