Davao religious told: ‘Keep Jesus’ Word alive’
DAVAO City – Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles exhorted on June 18 seventy-three temporary professed religious and several of their formators to always bring the words and life of Jesus in their hearts and minds.
During the 18th General Assembly of the Association of Temporary Professed Religious (ATPRAD) of the Archdiocese of Davao held at the San Pedro College in this city, the prelate called on those present “to keep alive in their memory the Word and Life of Jesus, the Person who unites every community”.
He added that also vital to the life of the religious is “his/her love for the Eucharist which will be shown in the way he/she lives his/her religious life”.
Body with many parts
Valles also lauded the event, calling the gathering “a manifestation that the lives of religious men and women are not to be lived in their own but always in the context of the local Church”.
Association president Sr. Michelle May Caligner of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, in her welcome remarks, expressed joy to see her fellow religious from different congregations gathered as “an eloquent picture of the Body of Christ who has many parts.”
Portia Sylvia Awayan, a member of the Redemptorist Itinerant Mission Team (RIMT), led the participants in reflecting on the role of young religious in parish ministries, especially in the area of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), by explaining the logo and theme of the Year of the Parish and by helping them discern ways to share the Filipino bishops’ call to make the parish a wellspring of mercy and renewal.
New set of officers
She also emphasized the challenge and task of young religious to nurture the quality of the people’s faith life.
In interview with CBCPNews, Br. Mark Anthony Zarate, OFM disclosed the election of a new set of officers for 2017-2018, re-electing Sr. Michelle May Caligner of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary as association president.
ATPRAD was established to gather the temporary professed religious in the Archdiocese of Davao, both men and women, to foster communion, mutual support, and unity among its members in order to deepen their vocation and identity as religious in the communion of the Church. CBCPNews