Saint Cory Aquino?

Listening to and watching Father Catalino Arevalo SJ giving the homily at the funeral Mass of Cory Aquino yesterday I realized that he was speaking about a person whom he really knew, as he had been her spiritual adviser and that of the Aquino family for many years. It was clear that he saw her as a person who followed Jesus Christ closely and willingly, especially in her suffering.
Yet he never referred to her as a saint. Sometimes homilies at funerals become eulogies that paint individuals as saintly when everyone knows that they weren't. Father Arevalo wasn't 'canonizing' Cory but showing us how she had tried to live the Christian life in her private life and, especially, in her public life, how she saw herself as one called to truly serve the people of the Philippines. If I recall, he spoke of her 'vocation' to be a public servant. He was really reminding all of us what we are called to be.

There is so much cynicism about politicians, much of it deserved, and there is a stench of corruption in the Philippines today that is even worse than it was during the Marcos years. Mrs Aquino brought a rare integrity to public life.

Father Arevalo recalled a meeting between Cory and the late Cardinal Stephen Kim of Seoul, Korea, a revered figure who died earlier this year and who is featured in the current Misyon:

Fr. Arevalo recalled the meeting between President Aquino and South Korea’s
Stephen Cardinal Kim and Manila Archbishop Jaime L. Cardinal Sin which lasted for 45 minutes.

“When we on our way back, Cardinal Kim said ‘I know why the Lord trusted her
with power at this most difficult time because she is pure of heart,” Fr.
Arevalo said quoting the Korean prelate.

He said Cardinal Kim said “He has no desire for power even now she
reluctantly took it on.”

“She truly moves me by the purity of her spirit. God has given a great gift
to your people,” Fr. Arevalo quoted Korean Cardinal Kim. (Melo M. Acuna).

In today's Philippine Daily Inquirer Ma. Ceres P. Doyo writes her Human Face column under the title 'Sainthood for Cory'. She put into words some of my own thoughts as I listened to Father Arevalo. She mentions one former president - of Tanzania, not the Philippines - whose cause for canonization is being pushed by the bishops of his country, Julius Nyerere. Like Cory, he left behind a mixed political legacy but his simplicity and integrity were very clear.

There are other 20th century politicians whose cause for beatification has been introduced, Alcide De Gasperi of Italy and Robert Schuman of France who, along with Konrad Adenauer of Germany established the European Economic Community of six nations which has grown into the 25-nation European Union. Schuman had a very personal connection with three of the original six members: he was born a German citizen in Luxwmoburg and alter became prime minister of France. he greatlyadmired St Columban. After World War II they never wanted to see war again in Europe. Each was driven by his Catholic faith, as Cory and Julius Nyerere were. Indeed there were others.

St Thomas More, the English martyr, is the patron saint of politicians, statesmen and lawyers.

This is not really the time to be asking whether or not Cory Aquino should ever be formally recognised as a saint. The Church very wisely asks us to wait at least five years. But there is no doubt whatever that Cory Aquino's illness and death have brought to our attention a true person of faith, a person who lived her faith in Jesus Christ both in her private life and in her public life and who endured great suffering in both.

Every Filipino and everyone living in the Philippines with eyes to see and ears to hear can adapt and make Cardinal Kim's words their own: 'She truly moved me by the purity of her spirit. God has given a great gift to our people'.

Transfiguration death anniversaries

At the grave of Corporal Laurence Dowd, Royal Irish Regiment

Killed in action, Ypres/Ieper, Belgium, 6 August 1917

Larry Dowd was the brother of my maternal grandmother, from near Tara, County Meath, Ireland. He was 37 when he died. I located his grave in September 2001, when this photo was taken, the first relative to visit it.

Hiroshima, Japan, after the dropping of the first atmoic bomb, 6 August 1945

Hiroshima had a population of about 225,000 before the bombing. It is estimated that 66,000 died and 69,000 were injured. Many of the latter subsequently died from radiation.

Peace Park, Nagasaki, where the second atomic bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945

Nagasaki had 195,000 people before the bombing of whom an estimated 39,000 died and 25,000 were injured.

Pope Paul VI, died 6 August 1978

Pope Paul was the first pope to visit the Philippines, in November 1970, and took a very personal interest in the development of the Church in Mindanao.

May all of these rest in peace.

Homily at funeral of Columban Father Willie Spicer

Columban Father Willie Spicer, 1949-2009

A faithful missionary priest in Japan and Ireland

Today is the feast of St John Vianney, the patron of priests who died exactly 150 years ago. Recently we began the Year for Priests that Pope Benedict declared in his honour, a year when we are all called to pray for our priests and when priests themselves are called to be saints.

A week ago Father Willie Spicer, a Columban who died suddenly at the age of 59, was buried. I didn’t know him very well as he was in his first year in the seminary when I was in my last. He spent many years in Japan after his ordination in 1974 and I met him for the first time in decades two years ago when I was at home. At the time of his death he was the coordinator of our mission awareness programme in Ireland, a demanding job that involved visiting different parishes almost every weekend and the schools in those parishes on weekdays.

Fr Michael Scully, who gave the homily in Father Willie’s home town of Westport, County Mayo, was ordained almost 20 years before Father Willie. His homily highlights for me a number of precious and sacred things in the life of a priest: his vocation, friendship between priests and the mission of a priest to bring the hope of the resurrection into the lives of people. I

have often found that a funeral is a time when persons are very open to the word of God. Japan is a country where there are very few Catholics, fewer than one in 200 of the population, and where the conversion of an individual to the Catholic faith is a great cause for rejoicing. A funeral Mass which Father Willie celebrated was a moment of faith for a Japanese artist who had never heard of the resurrection.

Another Columban priest in Japan, Fr Joe Broderick, ordained two years after me, whom I hadn’t met for many years, told me when we finally did that he still used in funeral homilies words he heard me speak at my mother’s funeral in 1970. I can’t recall what I said and didn’t even recall that Father Joe had been there. We never know how the word of God will reverberate and how something that one person cannot recall becomes central to the life of another.

When I first read Father Scully’s homily I was moved to tears and felt so grateful to God for having called me to be a priest.

May Father Willie and all our deceased Columbans, and the priests who have influenced are lives who have now gone ahead, rest in peace and enjoy this Year of Priests in the eternity of heaven with St John Vianney.

I have highlighted some parts of the homily.

Homily at Willie Spicer’s funeral Mass – July 28 2009 at Westport Church

Fr Michael Scully

We are gathered here today to do homage to the memory of Father Willie Spicer whose sudden death has come as a shock to us all. And I take this opportunity to express my sincere sympathy to all Willie’s family – to his brothers Jim and Aidan and their families and his younger brother Brian – as well as to all his relatives and friends, and to all of you who have come far and near to be here. I want to also express my deepest sympathy to Dick Healy and his family. The Healy family were close friends of Willie, and his passing must have been especially poignant for them on what was to be a happy occasion of celebration. Willie was in Limerick to attend Dick Healy’s 70th birthday.

We are all here, each of us with our personal thoughts and memories. Depending on how close we were to Willie, and how well we knew him, our thoughts and feelings at the present moment probably cover a wide spectrum of memories and emotions. Willie’s brother Aidan shared a very special memory with me this morning at breakfast. He told me that Willie once told him that Cloonagh was the place where Willie ‘got his vocation’ – where he got his call to mission. This memory is so precious to Aidan that he took some of his children out there this morning after a visit to the family grave at Aghavale Cemetery. [Aidan told me that Cloonagh is situated between Aghavale Cemetery and Croagh Patrick].

I will not be so foolish as to try to determine what the thoughts and feelings of others may be. I can only speak for myself.

I have lost a friend – a close friend - a trusted friend – a friend to whom I would entrust my life unconditionally. Last Friday evening when I heard that Willie Spicer had died suddenly, I experienced a deep feeling of personal loss. It is hard to imagine life without him. Not that we met frequently in recent times – after all, he was in Ireland and I was in Japan until recently – but even at that distance we both knew that in time of need, one was there for the other.

On hearing of his death last Friday, the thought came to me, if I were asked to preach the homily at Willie’s Funeral Mass, what would I say? What would be appropriate on this sad occasion? While mulling over this for a while – I let my thoughts wander back over the years, especially over the last eight or nine years that Willie was in Japan.

Over that period of eight or nine years Willie and I enjoyed a game of golf together on a regular basis even though we lived quite far apart. Willie was pastor at the Church in Chigasaki City in the Diocese of Yokohama; I was assigned to a Church in the Archdiocese of Tokyo about 80 miles away from where Willie lived. Sometimes before our game of golf I would stay overnight at Willie’s house.

On one of those occasions I noticed a painting which I had not seen before on the wall of his living-room. So, I asked him where he got the painting. ‘There is a story behind that’ was his answer. I would like to tell that story as Willie told it too me. These are his words: ‘About a year ago I did a funeral Mass here in Chigasaki Church. And, as usual, during the homily I emphasized that death was not the end of everything; and then went on to talk of Christian hope in the resurrection of the dead’. At this point, Willie paused and turned towards me: ‘I think it is meaningless’ he said, ‘to preach a homily at a wake or funeral Mass if we don’t make some mention of the resurrection of Christ and our own hope in the resurrection. Isn’t that what our Christian faith is all about? It’s because of that faith that we are on mission!’

Those words of Willie were for my benefit, but, needless to say, I was in complete agreement with what he said. However, Willie’s story did not end there. ‘You know’, he said ‘after that funeral Mass an elderly man approached me and said to me “Today was the first time I ever heard a talk like the talk you gave at the Mass. Until now, I had never heard of the resurrection of the dead – and somehow, it makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to hear that homily. If I had a chance I’d like to study the Catholic faith. Do you know if there’s a Catholic Church close to where I live?” and Willie continued, ‘That was about a year ago – something that I did not know at that time was that that man was an artist who lived about a hundred miles away. That painting came from him to me as an expression of thanks – thanks for my homily at the funeral Mass, but also as an expression of profound gratitude for the fact that he was studying the Catholic faith, and in hoping to be baptized in the not too distant future in a church close to where he lives’.

I have told this story because I believe that if Willie Spicer had a chance to speak to us today, he would say to us: ‘It’s all right to feel sad and to grieve on this occasion. I would feel the same way if I were in your place. But, don’t be carried away by sadness and grief. Today’s sadness and grief cannot compare with the joy and the happiness and the glory that will be ours if we but believe that the God who loves us, loves us so much that He gave His only Son for us’.

In this Mass as we move on to the Liturgy of the Eucharist – that’s the Liturgy of Thanksgiving, let us thank God for the gift that Willie Spicer was to each one of us, and for the many graces and blessings God has given to so many people through Willie’s dedication to the various missions entrusted to him.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis, may his faithful soul be at the right hand of God.

50th birthday of a 'St John Vianney' bishop

St John Baptist Mary Vianney, 1786-1859

Congratulations to Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Jaro, Philippines, who turns 50 today and who also celebrates the first anniversary of his consecration as a bishop in Bacolod Cathedral. Bishop Gerry, as he is known to his many friends, feels especially graced by God in that he was born on the 100th anniversary of the death of St John Baptist Mary Vianney, the patron saint of priests in whose honour Pope Benedict has declared a Year of Priests.

The bishop grew up in a Columban parish in Negros Occidental and has always been a great friend of the Columbans.

We featured Bishop Alminaza in the November-December 2008 issue of Misyon.

Ad multos annos, may you have many more years, Bishop Gerry!

Cathedral of San Sebastian, Bacolod City, Philippines

Cory Aquino, RIP

Maria Corazon 'Cory' Cojuangco Aquino

25 January 1933 – 1 August 2009

President Aquino of the Republic of the Philippines

25 February 1986 - 30 June 1982

With the late Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich of Bacolod

Cory Aquino was a woman who lived her Catholic faith with integrity as a wife, widow, mother, president and citizen. Our eternal flame, our Cory, as the Philippine Daily Inquirer describes her in today's editorial, brought truth and decency back into public life in the Philippines. Sadly, those qualities have largely disappeared again.

As we say in Irish, Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam uasal, 'May her noble soul be at the right hand of God'.

Final profession of Sister Juliet Mantos TC

Last Saturday, 25 July, Sr Juliet Mantos TC (left in photo with Sr Maria Elena S. Echavarren TC) made her final profession as a member of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family in Cagayan de Oro City, located in northern Mindanao.

As Sister Juliet offered her life for ever to God two of her companions, Sr Neri Rama TC and Sr Wennie Puyco TC, shower petals on her in St Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral.

Sister Juliet makes her vows in the presence of Sr Maria Elena, the superior of the Vice Province that includes the Philippines along with a community in India and another in Korea. Sister Elena is a former Superior General of the congregation and is from Spain. Also in the phots is Sr Luz Maria Buitrago from Colombia.

Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma SJ of Cagayan de Oro places the ring on Sister Juliet's finger.

The Sisters sing their Congregational Hymn during the ceremony.

Sister Juliet with her parents and other members of her family after Mass.

Taken on 8 February at Mater Dolorosa Formation House, Talisay City, Negros Occidental after the first profession of Sr Antonieta Napone TC . She is the shortest Sister in the middle row and, at 57, became the oldest Filipino Sister. She is an inspiration to the young women, some of them from China, preparing to follow in her footsteps and those of Sister Juliet.

God has been blessing the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters abundantly since they came to the Philippines in 1982.

I had my first assignment in the Philippines, even if only for Holy Week in 1972 while I was still studying the Cebuano language in Ozamiz City, in St Augustine's Cathedral. Archbishop Patrick Cronin, a Columban, was the second archbishop, serving from 1970 until 1988. For 15 years before going to Cagayan de Oro he had been the first bishop of Ozamiz. He was one of the first batch of Columbans to go to Mindanao in 1938.

Archbishop Cronin was truly loved by priests, religious and people. He spent the years of the Second World War in the mountains, sharing the hardships of the people and had a wonderful memory for names.

When I arrived in the Philippines in 1971 the Columbans had quite a few parishes in the archdiocese, most of them taken over from the Jesuits, as far as I know, in the early 1950s. We have only one parish now, in the city itself.

Thanks to Sr Alma Alovera TC for the photos.

A martyr for the seal of confession?

Today is the anniversary of the death of a remarkable Columban missionary, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas, a New Zealander who was killed by the Japanese in the Philippines in 1943, quite possibly because he refused to break the seal of confession.

You can read an excellent synopsis of his life from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography here. This doesn’t mention the detail that he was tied to one of the pillars of the church in Paete, where nobody knew him, and scourged there, just like Jesus.

I came across the account below by Fr John Keenan, an Irish Columban based in Manila, on The Bataan Banner. Many Columbans have died violently but I don’t know of any whose martyrdom – and I think that that is the correct term – resembled so much the sufferings of Jesus himself.

Our Holy Father in proclaiming the Year for Priests, has highlighted the part that hearing confessions played in the life of St John Vianney. Father Frank Douglas was, it seems, a martyr for that sacrament.

I have highlighted some parts of Father Keenan's article.

Church of St James the Apostle, Paete, Laguna, where Father Douglas was scourged.

HERE WAS A STRONG AND BRAVE MAN

by Father John Keenan

As one century and a new millennium begins, Pope John Paul II is anxious that the lives and deaths of those who suffered and died heroically in the service of others be recorded and documented. The sufferings and death of Fr Francis Vernon Douglas at the hands of the Japanese Military Police in World War II is one story that must not be forgotten. He was tortured and is thought to have died near Paete, Laguna, in July, 1943. Reprinted from Columban Reader, March 2000.

Paete is a quiet country town nestled between the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains and Laguna de Bay, about 70 miles from Manila. Founded as a Christian settlement around 1580, its inhabitants are famous for their wood-carving skills.

As usual, the people were eagerly looking forward to their annual fiesta in honor of St James, the Apostle, on July 25, 1943. However, the peace and tranquility of the town, crowded with visitors, was abruptly interrupted when the Japanese Imperial Army decided to zone off the area. It was cordoned off and no one was allowed to leave. All males from fourteen upwards were rounded up and incarcerated in the centuries-old parish church, famous for its beautiful wood carvings and paintings.

The Japanese were seeking out guerrillas and their collaborators who were carrying on resistance in the woods of the nearby hills. For several days, more than 250 men were interrogated and tortured, deprived of sleep and mercilessly beaten until they gave information or died.

On July 24th, Japanese soldiers arrived in a truck with a tall, unknown Caucasian—dressed in a white cassock—in custody. He was tied to a lamp post and made to endure the hot tropical sun throughout the day. No one knew who he was, or where he came from. He was, in fact, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas, parish priest of Pililla, some 20 miles away. Hours earlier he had been abducted from his convento and taken over the mountains to Paete.

Frank, or Vernon (to his friends), was born in Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand, on May 22, 1910. In his youth he excelled at rugby and cricket, and later studied for the priesthood. He was ordained on October 29, 1934. After an enjoyable and successful year as a curate in New Plymouth, NZ, he felt that God wanted him to become a missionary. He joined the Society of St Columban and arrived in Manila in 1938. His first assignment was as parish priest of Pililla, where he struggled with Tagalog language and tried to remain neutral between the Kem-pei-tai, Japanese military police, and the Filipino-American guerrillas hiding in the hills around Pililla.

In Paete, the local chief of Police, Basilio Y. Agbay, told one of his captors that the man was a priest, but he replied, 'the man is a spy'. Exhausted after a day in the sun, he was taken inside the church, by now a torrid dungeon. He was first taken to the sacristy where the terrorized people could hear the moans as he was being tortured. Later, he was dragged to the baptistery where he was tied to the baptismal font, and again severely beaten until blood splashed on the font and surroundings. Stripped to the waist, clad only in white slacks with his torso and arms black and blue and oozing with blood, he was tied to the left post under the choir loft. All the torture and pain seemed concentrated on him while the 250 looked on.

His bleeding and battered body immediately reminded the religious Filipinos of the scourging of Jesus at the pillar. 'Yet ours were the sufferings he endured… He was harshly treated, but unresisting and silent, and he humbly submitted…' (Isaiah 53:4-7). For three days and three nights, he was forced to stand. One of the soldiers hit him on the forehead with the butt of his sword and immediately blood gushed out all over his face.

The others were allowed to lie down and sleep. Throughout all this, he uttered not a word. Instead, he kept his eyes on the altar and continued to recite the Rosary. A bowl of rice was placed at his feet, which he did not touch. His blood-stained cassock lay on the floor beside him. Finally, perhaps fearing that his end was near, he asked for the local parish priest to hear his confession. This was done in the presence of his torturers, lest they later force his confessor to break the seal of confession. Shortly afterwards, bloodied and bruised, he was bundled into a truck that sped away in the direction of Santa Cruz and Los Baños, where there were many prisoners of war, including priests and religious. He was never seen again.

Why was Vernon singled out for such horrible torture? Did he refuse to talk in order to preserve the seal of confession, or information held in confidence? As he was being interrogated in Pillila before being abducted, neighbors heard him remonstrate with the military police, 'You have no right to ask me that question, and I cannot, in conscience, answer it'. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain, here was a strong man who suffered in silence rather than betray his friends.

As an early report published in The Far East, December 1945 stated: 'What Father Douglas suffered in Paete made a deep impression on the people of that town. The Filipinos say that he seemed to be like our Lord Himself, as he stood there, tied to the post in the Church, constantly beaten and ill-treated, but always with unquestionable patience. They expressed the belief that he suffered made him a kind of savior to the town.

'From the time he was brought there, no Filipino received any ill treatment. On him were concentrated all the anger and hatred of the Japanese soldiers.'

+++

In 1998 the Columbans published a biography of Father Douglas, With No Regrets, written by Patricia Brooks.

I have comes across a reference to a video on the life of Father Douglas but can’t locate it at present.

Francis Douglas Memorial College, a school in New Zealand run by the De La Salle Brothers, is named after this brave priest.