Fr. Leo Schmitt Heads 25 Jubilarians of the SVD Central Province

 This year’s jubilee mass was held at the usual venue, the Shrine of the Divine Word at the Christ the King Mission Seminary in Quezon City, in the afternoon of September 10, 2014. At the head of the 25 honorees was Fr. Leo Schmitt, who presided over the Eucharistic celebration; Bishop Arturo Bastes gave the homily.

In his homily, Bp. Bastes briefly recounted his life as a seminarian first in Tagbilaran, Bohol and then at CKMS in Quezon City, where he was admitted in May 1956. He recalled how he enjoyed the silence and liturgical exercises strictly implemented by their dedicated formators, among whom were two excellent Latin teachers: Fr. Constante Floresca and Fr. Peter Michael. He underscored the presence of the brothers “in all levels.” “Without the brothers,” he said, “we would not have survived.”

The bishop did not fail to stress how our founder, Fr. Arnold Janssen, “one of the greatest modern saints,” fought for the approval of the name of our Society, until Pope Leo XIII declared, “Let the name remain as it is!”


Bp. Bastes encouraged the congregation to count our blessings, including our contributions to media and communication, to science and education, and to the cause of justice and peace in the world. He did not forget to mention that the first Asian religious superior general was a Filipino. “For all this,” he said, “we have reason to rejoice! The Society has made us what we have come to be!”

At the close of the celebration Fr. Eli Mata introduced the pastoral leaders of the Shrine of Divine Word who each gave a gift to the jubilarians who were all seated as co-celebrators at the altar. Fr. Provincial Nielo Cantilado thanked the Lord and everyone for having joined the 25 confreres who have spent a solid time of their life in the mission. A video presentation, prepared by Br. Vincent Iopam, was shown before the recessional (see separate story for the text of the video presentation). The celebration culminated with agape at the seminary’s basketball court.

The complete list of the 25 jubiliarians is as follows: Fr. Leo Schmitt (60 years in priesthood); Frs. Antolin Uy, Leonardo Mercado and Heribert Lohrengel (50 years in priesthood); Bp. Arturo Bastes and Fr. Antonio Enacmal (50 years in vows); Frs. Atilano Corcuera, Benito Limsuan, Jose San Juan, Manuel Bongayan, Lino Nicasio, Dante Venus and Rudolf Horst (40 years in priesthood); Frs. Alejandro Gobencion, Agerico Orbos, Efren de Guzman, Eufrocino Bacit, Jr., Menardo Alcober, Rudyard Base and Rodrigo Advincula (40 years in vows); and Frs. Yosep Situ, Levi Meme, Renato Malbog, Rodrigo Salazar, Jr. and Vicente Rayco (25 years in priesthood).





Source: Steve Villarosa
 

Throwback: Heartfelt Class

Text and Photo: Fr. Jun de Ocampo, SVD

Father Jun Ocampo, center back, now in Germany. To his left, Manuel Bongayan, Ben Limsuan, Roderick Salazar (all in the Philippines) To Jun's far right, Atilano Corcuera (looking down), Roger Alasan both in the Philippines. Below Roger Alasan, at the front line, Leo Bose (+), Max Chua (now lay in Argentina), Noel Gatchalian (in Africa), Popong de la Cruz (in the Philippines), Florante Camacho (not part of our class but rector of our seminary then), behind and between Popong and Florante is Rocky Albano now a diocesan priest in San Francisco, USA; to the left of Fr Florante is Johnny Balsicas, now a lay person in the Philippines; to his left is Rizal Jose (RJ) Santos now in Japan; Paul Bolanos, now lay person in the Philippines; Macky Apuya (died last year); beside Macky is Lino Nicasio, parish priest in Kamuning, QC' between them at the back, Greg Sebastian now in Taiwan;, beside Lino, partly covered is Jose San Juan (SJ for short); between the two at the back is Vic Uy, now in Bohol. Not seen in photo is Victor Bagsic, first in the class to die. We were 20 ordained in Tagaytay on June 21, 1974, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We chose this date because we consecrated ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Thus, we called ourselves HEARTFELT 74. Dante Venus was ordained in 1974 but in Ireland. Tony Pernia was ordained in 1975, with the class called DIWA 75. 1975 was the centennial of the SVD. We were established on September 8, 1875. Of the original 20 Heartfelt, 3 have died, 3 are now in the lay state, and 1 became a diocesan priest. As of this date, there are 13 surviving priests of HEARTFELT 74. As we thank the Lord for the grace of vocation and perseverance, we continue to ask for prayers for continued faithfulness to the Divine Word and His Sacred Heart.