Bulacan to host 800 seminarians for annual meet

GUIGUNTO, Bulacan – Some 800 young men on the path to priesthood will converge in this town on Feb. 10, Saturday, for the 27th Kapatiran, the annual meet of the members of the Seminarians’ Network of the Philippines (SemNet).

The Immaculate Conception Major Seminary – Graduate School of Theology (ICMAS-GST) in this town, this year’s host, has announced the event’s theme “Banderitas: Sama-samang Tinawag, Sama-samang Mamamansag!” (Banderitas: Called Together, Journeying based on 1 Thessalonians 3:2, Brothers and Co-workers in Proclaiming the Gospel).

St. Augustine Parish, Baliuag, Bulacan will host breakfast and morning plenary activities. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andres S. Valera, H.P., E.V., parish priest of St. Augustine, extends his welcome and thanks to the SemNet community for gathering seminarians from 19 theology seminaries all over the country. From there, the visiting seminary communities will proceed to the ICMAS for the evening celebrations.

According to Sem. Jan Brian S. Samson, overall coordinator for Kapatiran 2018, the community warmly welcomes all the participating seminary communities, which have bonded with ICMAS-GST through the years, walking along the path to “the brotherhood of the priesthood.”

This year’s event coincides with the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, the sixth year in the journey of the Church in the Philippines towards 500 years of Christianity, a significant circumstance for this year’s event.

The SemNet gathering is expecting hundreds of participants from 19 seminaries: University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary, Manila; San Jose Seminary, Quezon City; San Carlos Seminary, Makati City; Holy Apostles Senior Seminary, Makati City; Lorenzo Mission Institute, Makati City; Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol, Tagaytay; Holy Rosary Major Seminary, Naga City; Immaculate Conception School of Theology, Vigan City; Domus Josephi Formation Center, Pasay City; De Paul House, Quezon City; Mother of Good Counsel Seminary, San Fernando City, Pampganga; St. Francis de Sales Theological Seminary, Lipa City; San Pablo Theological Formation House, Tagaytay City; Eucharistic Healers of Mary, Quezon City; St. Augustine Major Seminary, Tagaytay City; Mary Help of Christians Theological Seminary, San Fabian, Pangasinan; St. Benedict Diocesan Seminary, San Fernando, Camarines Sur and ICMAS-GST. CBCPNews