The recent low pressure area (LPA) and tailend of a cold front caused heavy rainfall in four hours equivalent to one-month rain volume in Mindanao. It resulted in massive flooding affecting 23 barangay units in Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental. Hundreds of houses were damaged and families affected and displaced. In Butuan diocese, 312 houses were totally damaged in La Paz, Agusan del Sur.
Meanwhile, thousands of families were affected by the big fire last Feb. 7 at Parola Compound, Tondo, Manila.
Caritas Manila and Radio Veritas are urging donations to the affected dioceses. Donations can be made online via ushare.unionbankph.com/caritas or by bank deposit:
Banco de Oro savings account (SA) no. 5600-45905
Bank of the Philippine Islands SA no. 3063-5357-01
Metrobank SA no. 175-3-17506954-3
For dollar accounts:
BPI SA no. 3064-0033-55 (swift code – BOPIPHMM)
Philippine National Bank SA no. 10-856-660002-5
(Swift code – PNBMPHMM)
Donations can also be made via Cebuana Lhuillier (free of charge) or dropped off at Caritas Manila office: 2002 Jesus St. Pandacan, Manila; or at Radio Veritas on West Avenue and Edsa, Quezon City.
For proper acknowledgment of donations, donors, with their names/ addresses, fax a copy of deposit slip to 563-9306 or e-mail scanned copy to [email protected] or [email protected].
Lay Dominicans in Rome
In time for the solemn closing of the 800th anniversary celebration of the Order of Preachers (OP) in Rome last Jan. 21, Rome-based Filipino lay Dominicans made their solemn profession at the ancient Basilica of Santa Sabina before Fr. Napoleon Sipalay Jr., prior provincial of the OP Philippine Province.
According to Filipino Dominican Fr. Gaspar Sigaya, the archivist of the Dominican curia, making their solemn profession were Florentina Soriano Montero (from Binalonan, Pangasinan), Luz Mana-ay Crucero (Santa Barbara, Iloilo), Lucia Bautista Abante (Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro), Concepcion Sumergido Bobis (Duenas, Iloilo), Juvy Vergara Tana (La Carlota City, Negros Occidental), and Elna Pamaranco Bayaban (Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo).
Making her simple profession was Maria Rosario Fresnedi (Putatan, Muntinlupa). Admitted to the novitiate was Anna Pauline Saavedra Durano (Zamboanga City). Admitted to the postulancy was Delia Regacho Andal (Pozorrubio, Pangasinan).
New Opus Dei prelate
Msgr. Fernando Ocariz is the new prelate of Opus Dei (OD), succeeding Bishop Javier Echeverria who died Dec. 12, 2016.
Ocariz, 72, himself was the auxiliary vicar of Msgr. Echeverria.
Pope Francis appointed Ocariz after the latter’s election by the OD congress last Jan. 23.
Electors from the Philippines were Bernardo Villegas, former finance secretary Jesus Estanislao, and Msgr. Joseph Duran, said Conrad Ricafort of the OD Philippines information office.
Msgr. Ocariz was in Manila, Cebu and Iloilo in 1998 and 2008, accompanying Bishop Echevarria. Ocariz was then vicar general.
He has also been a consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1986.
Opus Dei is a Catholic movement of clergy and lay people founded in 1928 by Fr. Josémaria Escriva (canonized in 2002). Pope John Paul II made OD a personal prelature in 1982.
Marian seminar
The Marian Encounter Seminar will tackle “The Parish as Communion of Communities” on Feb. 26 at the University of Santo Tomas Tan Yan Kee Student Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Seminar will likewise tackle Mary as a model of Christian discipleship, envigorating parish life and other topics—“Mary, the New Eve” and “The Relevance of Mary in the Light of the Sacred Scriptures.”
Speakers are Msgr. Claro “Matt” Garcia, parish priest of St. Alphonsus de Liguori Parish, Magallanes Village, Makati City; Fr. Isidro Abaño, OP and Fr. Gil Alinsangan, SSP.
Mass presider is Fr. Jesus José Bustillo, parish priest of Nuestra Señora de Salvacion Parish, Santa Mesa, Manila.
Seminar is organized by the Missionaries of Mary, a lay Marian community, in partnership with Radio Veritas (846 AM).
Seminar fee is P150. Call7412830.
E-mail
[email protected].
