Mary Help of Christians College Seminary: December 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

LETTER TO KABALENS for SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION 2011

30 November 2010

Dear Kabalens,

Kumusta ka la, Kabalens? Kulan mo la ey? Siopara so akapanpari ed sikatayo ey?

Kabalens, our beloved Alma Mater, the Mary Help of Christians College Seminary in Bonuan Gueset, Dagupan City is now 25 years old! Yes, singano karuman labat tayo ingapo. All the former Rectors are still alive with us: Fr. Butch, Msgr. Sabangan, Fr. Oliver and Bishop Rene. Fr. Ayong whom most of us know is the current Rector. Imagine that in 25 years, we have produced 74 priests from our seminary – out of the 292 who graduated, out of the 740 who entered! Thanks be to God!

Kabalens, it is not true that we have produced more lawyers than priests. It is true many have become lawyers, but still greater have continued to serve the Lord. We thank the loving care and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians!

Kabalens, would you like to come to Bonuan again for a Grand Reunion to celebrate the seminary’s silver anniversary? Would you like to see your batchmates and contemporaries again? We sincerely would like to see you again. You are and have always been welcome to visit “our” seminary. You will see a lot of changes…. but the structure is still the same. There is permanence in the vast metaphysical world that changes….

Kabalens, please don’t get angry if we tell you that your presence is important. For the love of Bonuan Seminary. For the love of Mary. For the love of Jesus – who once called you to become a priest in this institution. Let us forgive and forget all our bad experiences as long as we have learned good lessons from them. Just come back. Come home…

Kabalens, here are details: The grand celebration is February 12, 2011 which is a Saturday. Registration starts at 9AM and there will be sports. Don’t worry, the Limon Hall which will be rededicated is already air-conditioned. There will be lunch and program at 12NN, and then at 4PM, Archbishop Socrates Villegas will preside over the Mass. At 6PM, we shall have early dinner to be followed by the Musical-Play of the Seminarians on San Lorenzo Ruiz. There will be a lot of time for talking and celebrating.

Kabalens, kaya lang, siempre, may contribution tayo. I am sure you would like to help the seminary in some way. Maybe, batch by batch big donations. Pero, mahirap ang buhay ngayon. That is why we decided to ask you for a one-time donation. It will cover registration, lunch, dinner, snacks and play ticket for the occasion, plus free alumni-homecoming t-shirt pa. P2,500.00 lang. The proceeds will go to the repair of the seminary comfort rooms. Okay ba? Biro mo, ang CR nila, ginamit pa natin noon. Huh!

Kabalens, please come home to Bonuan again. February 12, ha? See you soon!

Love and mwah,

Your Bonuan Kaba (a.k.a. Kabalens din yan).

THE MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS COLLEGE SEMINARY

The Mary Help of Christians College Seminary is the Collegiate Seminary of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. It hopes to bring to the Priesthood those who have been called, and to bring them an adequate training, namely, with a conscious and free response of adherence and involvement of their whole person with Jesus Christ who calls them to intimacy of life with him and to share in His mission of salvation. (Pastores Dabo Vobis, n. 42)

Its aim is the more explicit and fuller development of a vocation to the priesthood, as it prepares young men for higher theological studies and eventually, for priestly service in the Archdiocese.

It offers a program of studies leading to the degree of Bachelor in Arts with concentration in Philosophy.

Through its varied curricular and co-curricular activities it hopes to produce graduates who would be:

· Responsible and free, creatively effective and committed Catholic Filipinos.

· Educated to love the truth, to be loyal, to respect every person.

· Just and true to their word, genuinely compassionate, men of integrity and balanced in judgment and behavior.

· Men of communion: affable, hospitable, sincere, prudent and discreet, generous and ready to serve, capable of opening himself to clear and brotherly relationship and of encouraging the same in others, quick to understand, to forgive and to console.

· Professionally competent and able to contribute fruitfully to the building of a more human world and equipped with the following skills; the ability to observe, analyze, interpret communicate intelligently and clearly, organize and effectively lead.

· Men who have learned to live in intimate and unceasing union with God; who live His Paschal Mystery in such a way that they will know how to initiate into it the people committed to their charge; who seek Christian in His Word and the Sacred Mysteries of the Church.

The Mary Help of Christians College Seminary, though seen as a place and a period in life, is above all an educational ecclesial community in progress. It is a community established by the Bishop to offer to those called by the Lord to serve as Apostles the possibility of re-living the experience of formation, which our Lord provided for the Twelve Apostles.

Christian community life is an integral content of the Mary Help of Christians College Seminary program of formation and is to found and pervade all its aspects. The integration of human experiences with Christian Life in a climate of mutual trust, fraternal concern and communion lived in an atmosphere of prayer is the fundamental thrust of MHCCS’s Formation.

The specific goal determines its features; the vocational accompanying of future priests, and therefore discernment of a vocation, the help to respond to it, and the preparation to receive the Sacred Order as imparted in the Theologate. It is then committed to a holistic formation: the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of future priests.

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Monday, December 13, 2010

LETTER TO KABALENS for SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION 2011