I do my shopping in an overcrowded but well-stocked store where
I never fail to run into many people who enthusiastically greet me by
name, and where some of the old veiled Muslim women get a kick out of
my greeting them in Arabic with an edifying Qur'anic quote or two! At
first they thought I was a visiting Islamic preacher from Saudi
Arabia, until the shocking news of my being a Catholic priest reached
the early morning Muslim shoppers! Now that I have become more
involved in the local Lanao Muslim-Christian Movement for Peace and
Reconciliation, my circle of Muslim friends and acquaintances is
quickly growing and my understanding of their plight as a
marginalized minority deepens. Many of the Imams and Muslim leaders
speak with me in Arabic, since most have studied for years in Egypt
or Saudi Arabia. They speak fluent classical Arabic while I
inadvertently fall back into the mountain dialect of Lebanon!
A Chinese interlude
After shopping, I walk a couple of blocks to the hardware store of a
large Chinese family that is very active in the Resurrection of the
Lord Chinese-Filipino Catholic Community, of which I am what they
call "the community priest". We are just in our third year,
but from the lively liturgies, active catechism, Choirs, Youth group,
single adults group, on-going religious education, retreats and
workshops, you'd think we'd been around for quite a long time. We
have no place of our own, so we rent and borrow different places for
all our needs. Recently, after two years of fund raising, we
purchased land near the local Chinese School on which to build our
chapel and formation centre. On May 6th we had our groundbreaking
ceremony, presided over by our Bishop and attended by Catholics,
Protestants, Buddhists and Taoists alike.
I have coffee and sweet Chinese cakes at the hardware store, then the
second daughter, a doctor and the "seamstress" of the
Resurrection Community who has fashioned and embroidered some of the
most beautiful vestments and banners I have ever seen, promises to
get me some nice mangos when she goes shopping. The only ones I found
that day are the green, sour variety, but the confreres like the
sweet yellow ones better. "Doc"s" husband, who teaches
Mandarin and Fookien Chinese at the Chinese School and who is even
better known for his expertise in cock fighting, drives me to the
seminary. I'll get the mangos later in the evening at choir practice,
when we sing in English, Visayan (the local language), Tagalog (the
national language), Mandarin and Fookien.
Spiritual director
Inahan Sa Kinabuhi Diocesan College Seminary is home to over twenty
seminarians from three dioceses. It is my great blessing to be
Spiritual Director there, as well as to teach Scripture, Spirituality
and English. Amy, the art teacher, is here at least six hours a week.
It is, she told me, the least she can do to thank God for the gift of
her artistic creativity! I'm proud to say Duquesne University, the
Spiritan university in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, has donated some 300
English textbooks of all levels for our library. Then the Spiritan
Province of the USA West sent encyclopedias and other wonderful
reference books, as well as making it possible for us to purchase two
computers: one for the seminarians, one for the staff. So many
people, near and far, have joined together as one to help the
formation of the local clergy.
The seminarians are a fine group of young men whose love of God and
devotion to all God's people are always an inspiration and a
challenge to me. Early in the last school year I had a terrible
kidney infection and was in such pain that I needed to stay in my
office at the seminary to be near "Doc" who came to give me
injections, even in the middle of the night. One morning I went to
leave my room at 3 a.m. to get something from the kitchen, and I
almost stepped on two seminarians sleeping on mats in front of my
door, in the hot, airless corridor, in case I suddenly needed
anything in the middle of the night and couldn't get out of bed. I
realized then how God continues to send angels to watch over us, even
if they don't have feathery wings.
When the Chinese-Filipina Sister tells me she is going to get some
things for the seminary from the store of Alice, one of the real
movers and shakers of the Resurrection Community, I hitch a ride to
pick up drain-opener, as well as to say hello. Once, just as I was
getting ready to leave my office at the seminary to do the shopping
for our house, she and another catechist arrived with a large stack
of papers for me to sign, and then another group for me to mark. When
she noticed I was on my way out and I told her it was to go shopping,
she snatched my list from me, told me to get busy with the papers
while she ran to the market to buy what I needed!
A colourful tapestry
So like everything else here, even shopping is a tapestry woven of
many different and colourful relationships. There's that same sharing
in our Spiritan community, too. All we do, we do as part of the
Spiritan family, not alone. Fr. Martin has given a workshop on
movement and dance in liturgy at the seminary; he then arranged his
busy schedule to be with us on our feast day. Frs. Chebuike and
Etienne took time from their Christmas break from studies to join the
seminarians carolling and praising God. Fr. Haroldo usually drops by
the seminary Monday mornings, chatting with everyone and lending his
wonderful books on Scripture and Basic Christian Community. Brian
joined us at the ground-breaking of the Resurrection of the Lord
Chinese-Filipino Catholic Community. Twice we have taken the
seminarians to our parish in Digkila-an for recollections. And I have
been a part of so many sacred and joy-filled moments with the
confreres in their ministries. All our lives continue to be woven
together by the Master Weaver, and with such love, dedication, joy
and sharing, they cannot unravel. And now I see that even buying
mangos is a Gospel moment!
Dan Sormani was ordained in 1986 as a member of the
US West province of the Spiritans. His enormous energy is now being
expended in Luga-It, Iligan diocese in the Philippines.
Welcome
to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a
Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members,
founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be
found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated
ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the
Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your
visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your
prayers. May God bless you.
