Tagbilaran Diocese Website

On August 24, Sunday, Fr. Luigi, Fr. Sebastian and I went to the Bridgettine Sisters for their 8:00am mass. We drove around ten minutes to go there. The former Patriarch, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, who stayed there since retirement last June, 2008, concelebrated in the Mass. We also met a lady who worked in the Patriarchate, Madame El Ham who promised to help me in my Visa problem. We were invited for breakfast by the Sisters and El Ham shared to us that the Christians in Israel were facing difficulties both from the Jews and the Muslims. It was a double persecution and the problem greatly reduced their number in Israel. Many of them migrated to America, Australia, New Zealand, and other places where they were free to live their faith or to educate their children to the Christian way. That was my first Sunday Mass in Israel, attended by a former Patriarch, three Passionist priests, four Bridgettine Sisters, and one lay churchgoer.
In the afternoon, we had an excursion to the Herodion, the artificial mountain built by Herod the Great to secure his palace and his family. It was in the Palestinian territory, beyond Bethlehem, but it was administered and occupied by the Israelis. We saw in the remains the history of the Holy Land in a capsule; the influences of the Romans, the rebelling Jews, the Byzantine, the Muslims, the Crusaders, Palestinians, Israelis, etc. On our way home, we stopped by the place of the UN, where we had a good view of Jerusalem. We spent some moments enjoying the scenery, studying the geography, and letting our imaginations wander. We reached home at suppertime, had a nice meal with a bottle of wine and a spirited conversation.
On the next day, August 25, 2008, Monday, at 10 am, Fr. Luigi, Fr. Sebastian and I went to Notre Dame Center and were introduced formally to the Nunciature, the Vatican Embassy in Israel. The priest in charge of religious and priests, Fr. Pietro Felet, welcomed us in his office, got my name for the directory and, in the name of the Nuncio, officially welcomed us Israel. That was also the place where Filipinos gathered for Mass on Sundays. That was why an Arab waiter in the restaurant nearby greeted me in Tagalog “Magandang Umaga”. We saw the Church in the second floor. On the way home, we dropped by the post office and arrived home at lunchtime.

In the evening, Fr. Giovanni (Gianni) arrived from his commitment as tour guide. After supper, we had our first community meeting presided by Fr Luigi. He reviewed to us the objectives and hopes of this community according to the General Chapter and the General Council: a) to be a Passionist community in Israel, b) to offer hospitality to all CP’s who come here, c) to be a place for on-going formation, interreligious dialogue, ecumenism, justice and peace. The Officers were; a) myself as the Superior, b) Fr. Sebastian, the Vicar and Econome, c) Fr. Roberto, the Secretary and d) Fr. Gianni, the Liaison with the Government, the Church and the Civil Society. The meeting ended at almost ten in the evening. We decided to meet again on Saturday to iron out more details of our unique community.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Stories.