Twenty-one years ago, on June 12, 1993, Pope John Paul II ordained two Filipino priests, Fr. Stephen Simangan and Fr. Gregory Gaston, in Seville, Spain. The two priests consider their ordination by the pope himself the turning point of their lives.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York met with 19 Filipino priests over lunch on Dec. 5 in his Madison Avenue residence to discuss how the priests in New York could help the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” victims.
Ambeth Ocampo, who had flown in from Japan where he is on a grant, paid me a surprise visit. We had a lot of reminiscing to do.