Academic Calendar for School Year 2012-2013

Oliver Ramos Jaramilla (1975-2012)

We mourn the death of Oliver (April 18, 1975 - Feb 25, 2012), DWST worker. This morning, on his way this morning to the SVD seminary to work, he was hit by a delivery van; was pronounced DoA. I thank the Lord for his friendship and loyalty to me, for the numerous times he lent a hand to DWST, CTS, SVD-ALS, etc. The Lord's ways are inscrutable. "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

TRA to host First Tagaytay Youth Day

Arnoldus Library announces call for entries for its Second ALAP Award

THE SECOND ALAP AWARD

The Arnoldus Library is giving out its second Arnoldus Library Academic Paper Award (ALAP Award). The ALAP Award comprises a plaque of recognition from Divine Word Seminary and a cash honorarium of P5,000.00 courtesy of the Fr. Dominador Flores, SVD Fund.

The award will be presented at the Graduation Ceremonies on March 31, 2012 to the student who has written the best academic paper (term paper or synthesis paper) for the school year 2011-2012 as determined by an Award Committee chaired by Fr. Randolf Flores, SVD.

The aim of the award is both to reward excellence and to encourage students to write academic papers with high quality.

Who is eligible?
• A bona-fide student of Divine Word Seminary who has submitted his or her academic paper on time to the Dean’s Office and whose grade given by the moderator is not lower than 95%.
o The M.A. thesis is not covered by the ALAP Award.
o Academic paper means the annual term paper or the synthesis paper only.

Procedure:
• The chairperson of the Award Committee will check over the academic papers submitted at the Dean’s Office. He will then select three potential winners from which the Award Committee will choose the best. The criteria of the short list would be:
o (1) the paper’s final grade
o (2) the form and style
 footnotes, bibliography, English, and the like
 based on Turabian, 7th edition
o (3) content
 the novelty of the study
 the use of sources
 the flow of the arguments
o (4) effective conclusion
 not just a simple summary
 but an articulation of what the readers can learn from the paper.

Due Date
• Deadline for the short list: March 9, 2012 before 5:00 p.m.
• Place of submission: Dean’s Office

For more information: See Fr. R. Flores or write to rrandy33@yahoo.com
For the winner of First ALAP AWARD, click here.

Megatrends and Mission: Symposium on the Theology of Mission

Speaker:  Fr. Edgar Javier, SVD 
               Former missionary to Samoa and Fiji
               SThD - Gregorian University
               Faculty: DWST, UST, ICST-Vigan, and ICLA
Student Reactors : Mark Mojica, Luca Vinati, and Mark Ramos
             
Place: Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, Philippines
Date: February 23, 2012
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Registration: Free
Contact: dwstagaytay@yahoo.com.ph

Talk on Second Corinthians by Prof. Raimund Bieringer

Simbang Gabi 2011: Homilies

This year's Simbang Gabi homilies (2011) are coming from SVD Philippine Northern Province. Thanks to the SVD-PHN missionaries who contributed and to Fr. Robert Ibay, SVD who collected them. Please click on the link Simbang Gabi 2011 Homilies.

Ukay-Ukay sa SVD Tagaytay part 2 (U2.2) - Garage Sale

‎"One person's junk is another's treasure." - Early Xmas Ukay-Ukay (garage sale) sa SVD-Tagaytay on Nov 5-6, 2011 (Sat & Sun) - for the benefit of SVD-ALS program. Come,buy and/or share. By (buy) sharing what you no longer need, you help save the environment; you help your neighbor; and you help our SVD-ALS (out-of-school) learners.

Mass with Archbishop-elect Chito Tagle, SVD-ASPAC formators, and SVD-ALS

Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City (Cavite), Oct 17, 2011--This morning, the newly appointed Archbishop of Manila, Chito Tagle, presided at a mass with around 200 postulants (candidates for admission to religious congregations) who are ending their modular classes.  Bishop Chito has been, for many years, the rector of the major seminary of the Diocese of Imus (Cavite)--Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol (TMP) and thus a resident of  TMP. He preferred to stay in this seminary whose seminarians study at Divine Word Seminary. Since he became the rector, Since 1982 till the first semester of this school year,  the Bishop has also been teaching theology here (Systematic and Theology of the Priesthood).

Here's today's editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer that attempts to analyze the appointments of new archbishops and its implications on the Catholic Church and on the Philippines. Please click on this link.

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The SVD formators (rectors, prefects and novice masters) of the Asia-Pacific Region (ASPAC) are also around for a one-week meeting (17-20 Oct). Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD Superior General will give the keynote address. Of the four zones of the SVD (Africa, Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific), ASPAC has the biggest number of seminarians and brothers in the novitiate and in temporary vows (1,208 in the SVD Catalogus 2011).

---------------

Some former CTS students of DWST are coming up again with another garage sale (Ukay-Ukay). The proceeds will go the SVD-ALS program. This program has benefited more than 200 out-of-school youth in and around Tagaytay. The learners attend daily modular sessions in the SVD-ALS center inside  DWST's  compound to prepare them for the accreditation and equivalency tests. For this year's tests, the date is set on October 23 (this Sunday) in Trece Martires City. If you are interested to help in the garage sale, please text this number: 09176284849. 

Today's edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer carries a news on the ALS programs being supervised by the Arnold Janssen Catholic Mission Foundation. Please click on this link.

Prayer-rally against RH bill set on Friday in Tagaytay

Prayer-rally against RH bill set on Friday in Tagaytay

Church groups set anti-RH bill rally on Sept.16 in Tagaytay

TRA members at the prayer rally for Cory Aquino
before she passed away

The Tagaytay Religious Association (TRA) will hold a prayer rally on Friday, September 16, in Tagaytay City in protest against the passage of the controversial reproductive (RH) bill.

TRA, an association of more than 70 seminaries, religious houses, retreat centers, schools and monasteries located in Tagaytay and its environs, said the prayer rally will be held from 2:00 - 5:00 pm starting with rosary processions from various locations in the city. The processions will lead to the Lourdes Church where a talk on the RH bill will be delivered to be followed by a mass with Bishop Chito Tagle, the bishop of the Diocese of Imus.

"This event is a collaborative expression of our collective stand against the passage of the RH Bill now debated in the Senate," TRA chairperson Fr. Sam Agcaracar, SVD, main organizer, said in his letter to the members of the association. "Since Tagaytay City is often dubbed as the Vatican City of the Philippines because of its exceptionally big number of religious houses; and also, since it is used to be called a 'character city' by the local government, it is just right to express our sentiments against the bill that many Catholics now perceived as immoral," said former TRA chairperson, Fr. Randy Flores, SVD.

The event with the theme, Lakad-Dalangin para sa Pagpapahalaga ng Buhay, will proceed as follows: 2:00 PM - start of the rosary procession” to Lourdes parish (note: Clusters 1,2 and 3 will assemble near Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish; Cluster 4 at the SVD Road corner; Clusters 5 and 6 at the Magallanes Drive; Half of the Lourdes parishioners will join clusters 5and 6 and others will wait at the Rotonda area. Please coordinate with your respective barangay captains and officials for the traffic).

3:00 PM - short talk on the RH Bill at Lourdes Parish.

4:00 PM - Holy Eucharistic Celebration

The organizers also announced that "every community and cluster is encouraged to provide a streamer to highlight the theme during the rosary procession," and that each house is asked to encourage also their lay workers and collaborators to participate.

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In relation to the opposition to the RH bill, here's a write-up from the CBCP Online on Wikileaks and US policy on Philippines' population control program:

Washington has been behind a population-control drive in the Philippines for the past 40 years, a leaked State Department cable from whistleblower website Wikileaks revealed.

The leaked cable, authored by former US ambassador Kristie Kenney, offers direct proof for the first time of Washington’s long-armed, behind-the-scenes intervention to force developing countries like the Philippines to limit their populations. Kenney’s July 31, 2008 cable welcomed draft legislation promoting artificial contraceptives, referring to the “reproductive health” (RH) bill, as well as Congress’ decision to allocate $3.38 million and $27 million in 2007 and 2008 for “contraceptive supplies” in the wake of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) decision to “phase down support for condoms, pills, injectable contraceptives and intra-uterine devices.”

“Landmark appropriations and draft legislation reflect increasing commitment within the Philippine Government to further expand and sustain programs started forty years ago with U.S. Government’s assistance through USAID,” Kenney said.

“The U.S. Government continues to be the largest donor in the Philippine population sector supporting efforts to improve local government service delivery and increase private sector contributions to family health outcomes,” she added.

Kenney noted that USAID’s funding for “population and family planning” in the Philippines had gone up to $15 million annually. “The U.S. Government continues to be a leader in population assistance to the Philippines,” she said.

USAID was also helping manufacturers lower the prices of contraceptives, she said. “In parallel, within the private sector, USAID technical assistance enables pharmaceutical companies to launch lower-priced contraceptive products, and to expand choices among consumers with more brands on the market,” Kenney said.

Echoing Henry Kissinger’s infamous National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 200, Kenney’s cable noted that the Philippines is already the twelfth most populous country in the world, and is “expected to double its population size by 2044.”

NSSM 200 or the so-called “Kissinger Report” – the declassified document that uncovered Washington’s coercive population control policies – identified the Philippines among several high-population-growth countries that should be subjected to depopulation to protect US commercial interests.

Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State, had warned that population growth in less-developed countries could hamper US access to natural resources.

NSSM 200 recommended a) the legalization of abortion; b) financial incentives for countries to increase their abortion, sterilization and contraception-use rates; c) indoctrination of children; and d) mandatory population control, and coercion of other forms, such as withholding disaster and food aid unless a less-developed country implements population control programs.

During Monday’s Senate debate on the RH bill pro-RH Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago admitted that the RH bill still needs to be cleaned up of all references to population control.

Acknowledging the existence of the “Kissinger Report,” Santiago said a United States-dictated policy on population control was “anathema” to herself and the other RH bill sponsor, Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Kenney has drawn the ire of the Aquino administration for another cable in which she described the late president Corazon Aquino as a “tarnished” and “weak” icon of democracy. In response, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Kenney, who is now assigned to Bangkok, was a “dismal failure” in the Philippines. (Dominic Francisco).

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The so-called Kissinger Report or National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 200 Authored by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the secret US government document has been Washington’s blueprint for depopulation to ensure unhampered access to the natural resources of developing countries.

The declassified NSSM 200 states that poor countries should limit their populations to prevent anti-imperialist youth from harming US commercial interests.

The Kissinger report recommends:
1) the legalization of abortion;
2) financial incentives for countries to increase their abortion, sterilization and contraception-use rates;
3) indoctrination of children; and
 4) mandatory population control, and coercion of other forms, such as withholding disaster and food aid unless a less-developed country implements population control programs.

Thesis on Prophetic Dialogue defended

Fr. Abs Borja reading his thesis abstract

Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, Philippines, August 26, 2011---Fr. Abraham Borja, SVD (DWST alumnus 2011) successfully defended his M.A thesis entitled: "An Asian Perspective of the Prophetic Dialogue of the Society of the Divine Word." He earned the mark, Magna cum Laude.  The thesis committee was headed by Dr. Crescencia Gabihan, PhD; Fr. Alexander Muana, SVD (STL Gregorian University and the Dean of Studies); and Fr. Samuel Agcaracar, SVD (STL Gregorian University) served as members of the examination panel; thesis moderator  Fr. Edgar Javier, SVD (STD Gregorian University).  Borja will leave the country at the end of this month for his work as SVD missionary inTaiwan.

Toast to a successful thesis defense!
From right: Tess (CTS alumna), Fr. Alex (Dean), Fr. Abs
Fr. Sam, Dr. Gabijan, Fr. Lex. Fr. Raul, Fr. Randy, and Bing (CTS coordinator)

Students' Day celebrated

The invincible palosebo
 at the DWSTSA games

Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, Philippines-- "Cross-Fire: Flaming Mission, Crossing Boundaries," this was the theme of the this year's students' day (see the explanation of the theme below). On August 18-19 the Divine Word School of Theology Students Association (DWSTSA) closed  their theology books for the time being and went down to the gym in colorful outfits to play in the different sports games--tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton, sepka takraw, and more including indigenous games (palosebo, greased bamboo climbing) and intellectual games like debates and essay writing contest. Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body).  See below for the result of the games.

******

News report from Mark Ramos, SVD:

Theology II students (Hasidim class)  headed by their class senior, Roxie Roflo, CRSP landed as the general champion for this year’s DWSTSA days held last August 18-19 at Divine Word School of Theology with the theme: “Cross-Fire: Flaming Mission, Crossing Boundaries.”

DWSTSA days is an avenue for us students of DWST to rest for a while in theological studies and celebrate friendship and solidarity in the spirit of sports. The first day begins with the enthronement of the Word of God. Rev. Fr. Alex Muana, SVD, the Dean of Studies formally opened this year’s DWSTSA days followed by the presentation of class mascot and cheers which portrays the class identity. The first day highlights the different native sports such as “batohang bola, basagang palayok, patintero and a group palosebo.” The native sports was followed by the elimination game for basketball, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, sepak takraw and table tennis. The day ended with the first DWST Video Fest held at Aula Magna.

The second day of the celebration started with the solemn celebration of the Eucharist with Fr Ricardo Germanetto, CRS, rector of the Clerics Regular of Somasca as the main celebrant and homilist. After the Holy mass was the academic competition composed of essay writing, extemporaneous speech, debate, and quiz bee held at the Aula Magna. Simultaneously with the indoor games such as chess, dama, scrabble, word factory and game of the general was the championship game for basketball grabbed by the Pistoi class, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton and sepak takraw all grabbed by the Hasidim class.

The culmination of the DWSTSA days highlights the agape – a physical manifestation of sharing and friendship among different houses of formation. Likewise, the night highlights Neo-ethic dance competition and the battle of the band grabbed by the Maskilim and Hasidim class respectively. The event was graced by the rectors of different congregations as well as a good number of priest and visitors. The Maskilim (T3) and Pistoi (T4) class landed as second place and  Sondergut class (T1) got the third place of this year’s DWSTSA days. This year’s DWSTSA days was made possible through the leadership of the DWSTSA president Dexter Priete, MSP together with his council.

Some members of the Fourth Year Theology class

Some members of the Second Year Theology Class
(this year's champion class)

At the of the opening of the games

Basketball

Breaking the pot

Photo credits (facebook downloads):
Li Qi, SVD
R. Valmores
R. Roflo
Hasidim

***********

THE THEME: “Cross-Fire: Flaming Mission, Crossing Boundaries.”

In a multi-cultural institution such as Divine Word School of Theology (DWST) “crossing boundaries” is the key to understanding other culture and people. It indicates an open rather than exclusivist stance other people who are different from us. It is an opening to share with that fire in our heart to proclaim the faith and intention to learn from one another and enriched by it. After all, as the psalmist writes, "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them. The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.” (Ps 126:2-3)
The Psalm suggests the right attitude that every student of DWST should possess. It is our appreciation with the great things in us and in others that all will live in unity in the midst of diversity for “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”(Ps 133:1) Crossing boundaries represents a mainly suitable means of supporting a better mutual understanding.

We are in an environment with diverse cultural orientation. Philippines alone is divided with so many a culture. Crossing over to these probes the richness and vitality of one’s own tradition. We try to see with their eyes and feel with their heart. For understanding is more than intellectual apprehension. It involves our sensitivity to the fears and hopes of the other. When one speaks of being sensitive and understanding others, it means that it is allowing the other to define themselves in their terms rather than ours, and certainly not in terms of our inherited stereotypes.

But crossing over does not only apply of being with the “other”, crossing over can also happened to ourselves in a manner of cross-examination of our fidelity to our vocation. With all the controversies that the church is facing at the moment, we are called now to likewise do mission to ourselves and to cross from the “other-centered” mindset, be back to ourselves and reflect in order to be in a better disposition to serve God and his people with a renewed burning zeal of service and mission. We are also called to be missionaries to our own selves so as be renewed with our commitment to follow radically Jesus the Christ, the Divine Word.

We do these by igniting the fire that is already in us. We remember that “Christ sent the Holy Spirit from the Father to exercise inwardly His saving influence and to promote the spread of the Church” (AG No. 4). This is a call of awakening the spirit that Jesus once gave us, to strengthen and guide us in our missionary activities. It is a call to become passionate individual intensified with the ideals and sublime example of the first disciples as they walked along the Roman roads to spread the Gospel of Christ full with vigor and spirit. It is a call for missionary fever that we may be essentially bound up with the Creator Spiritus who continuously creating and recreating the Church. Lastly, it is a call for that full and active response to the Spirit’s initiative as Paul and Barnabas did when the Spirit told them to set apart for the work to which he have called them (Act. 13:2).

In this regards we have “CROSS FIRE” as a theme of our DWSTSA Days for this school year. To remind us that the mission today is identified with the burning spirit of crossing boundaries in order to understand deeper the love of God manifested to others who are different from us; that we may experience the God in them with the God in us; and that we may learn from Jesus. We see that when Jesus crossed over the boundary of what was conventional in his own time, he was lifted up on the cross. His cross is of influential significance not because it shaped our salvation but because it was the fulfillment of his life’s mission. From north to south and from east to west a perfect crossing was made – a trail, where everybody from all the corners of the world can walk towards the center, Christ—that from him everyone is equipped to walk and proclaim the same Jesus throughout the world.
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RIP Fr. Redentor Corpuz (1946-2011)

DWST mourns the death of Fr. Redentor Corpuz of the Diocese of Imus. Fr. Corpuz, 65, suffered a cardiac yesterday and passed away at 2:00 this morning, Friday, Aug 5, 2011. At the time of his death, Fr. Corpuz was the Superintendent and Director of Catholic Schools in Cavite.

In memoriam. Please listen here to Kahanga-Hanga (How Wonderful [is your name]). Lyrics was written by Fr. Corpuz (music by Fr. Hontiveros, SJ).
Wake is at the Bishop's House, Casas Hall, Imus, Cavite.

RIP Fr. Adonis Narcelles, SVD (1971-2011)

From www.divinewordseminary.com

Father Adonis Narcelles Jr, SVD, DWST alumnus and missionary in Berlin, succumbed to cancer on July 29, 2011 in Berlin. He was 40 years old.  

From FB post of Fr. Felmar Fiel, SVD:

Adonis Llamas Narcelles Jr. SVD was born in Pangasinan. He is the fourth child among seven children of Adonis Narcelles Sr. and Lily Llamas Narcelles. He grew up and went to school in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan. In 1988, he entered the Divine Word Formation Center-Urdaneta, as a seminarian of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). Two years later, he went to Christ the King Mission Seminary where he finished his bachelor's degree in philosophy.

He entered the Holy Spirit Novitiate in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro in 1994 and then pursued his theological studies at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City.

In 1998, he went to the St. Augustine Mission Seminary in Sankt Augustin, Germany to continue his studies and finished his degree in Theology. After his Diaconate year in the Parish of St. Alexander and Theodor in Ottobeuren (Bayern) he was ordained priest on June 1, 2003. On April 4, 2004, he arrived at his first "mission assignment" in Berlin, as Chaplain of the Filipinos in the Archdiocese of Berlin.

 From the FB post of Fr. Martin Ueffing in Germany:

Adonis wrote on June 30, 2011:
"it’s more than a month now
since this inner battle –
many things, events, signs of hope
have happened since then..
the pale complexion at the beginning
the lost of appetite and weigh
were only symptoms of a sickness
which developed within…
the visit to the hospital
and the series of examinations
in blood, bodily organs
soon revealed a sad discovery…
it was the growth of a rare tumor
near the gall bladder area
at the bile duct near the pancreas
this was the mail culprit…
then, we startet our common prayer
to ask God for healing, for recovery
for deeper faith to accept His will
and many people have responded to our call…
but an operation is necessary
to chick the tumor and its development
on june 6, two days after my 40th birthday
I had the major operation…
it was a successful one
the healing was fast
thanks for your constant prayers
after 12 days I was home again…
four days thereafter
an internal bleeding was diagnosed
but was immediately stopped
thank god…
being in the hospital
was again an opportunity to prepare
for the necessary chemotheraphy
to curb the growth or kill the tumor.
on june 25
Istarted the first chemo session
without much dramatic side effects
again, our prayers were heard by God…
on June 29, the feast of sts. peter and paul
I was home again to regain strength
to take good rest, te eat normal food
and to feel the joy of living…
life goes on after all these events…
this painful journey and battle
again this tumor, these cancer cells
have led me to many realizations in life
and inspired me to write many poems…
there is always life and an hope amidst all these…
I do believe that God is on our side
He alone can kill the tumor an
can restore back my health
as long as we continue to pray…
yes, we don’t give up praying to God
we continue believing in His mighty
and miraculous power to heal me
and all the sick people…
for only God makes all things possible."
...
God called him... they say, he died with the words "thank you" on his lips... i am sad... and grateful for his inspiring presence... (m.ü.)

Ordination of Sundeep Kumar Pulidindi, PIME

Congratulations to Fr. Sundeep Kumar Pulidindi, PIME, DWST alumnus 2011 who will be ordained to the priesthood on August 6, 2011 in India.

DWST hosts theological symposium on Verbum Domini

Tagaytay City—July 22, 2011—Last Friday marked the theological symposium entitled: “Verbum Domini: The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” hosted by the Divine Word Seminary—School of Theology (DWST) in cooperation with the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP) and Tagaytay Religious Association (TRA). Around 300 participants came to listen to the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Manila, Bishop Broderick Pabillo  who served as the keynote speaker of the said symposium.

The talk is basically an exposition of the latest Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini (VD) signed by Pope Benedict XVI on September 30, 2010 and made pubic only on November 11, 2011. Bishop Pabillo made his presentation simple yet substantial to guide us in reading the document.

From the start, he made it clear that the purpose of the document is “to renew the Church’s faith in the word of God (VD 27).” With this, he indicated that the focus of the document is not only the biblical text but the Word of God in general. He started with the theological point of view of the Word of God, with emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit from the process of inspiration to interpretation. Then he went on with the discussion on the relationship of the Word of God and the Church. He stresses that there is no dichotomy between the Church and the Word of God for the Church and her activities are deeply rooted in the Word of God. Special attention was given to liturgy and part of it is on the homily. Liturgy and the Word are related to each other in a way that it is in the liturgy that the Word becomes alive. In the same manner, it is in the homily that the ancient text is being actualized in the present. Lastly, he talked about the Word of God in the mission of the Church. The Church is called to spread the word of God to all humanity. This is founded in her nature as missionary – evangelizers of the world. And part of our evangelization are the elements of justice, care for the earth, involvement with our time and importance of culture. Bishop Pabillo ended his talk with the message of Pope Benedict XVI for the World Youth day in Madrid.

The event started with an opening liturgy followed by the welcome address of Fr. Alex Muana, SVD, Dean of Studies of DWST. Fr. Wilfredo Saniel, SVD, Rector of Divine Word Seminary concluded the symposium with his closing remarks.

Mark Ramos, SVD

Graduations 2011 and Start of School Year 2011-2012 at DWST

"Beware of the Ides of March!" warns the soothsayer to Julius Caesar. In the seminary, the Ides of March (March 15) is always welcomed with both anxiety and excitement. Thus begin the final exams, comprehensive exams, submission of papers, revalida, graduations and, of course, the  long summer vacation.

Academic Degrees

Last graduation day on March 26, 2011, the main celebrant at the baccalaureate mass was Bishop Joel Z. Baylon, an alumnus of DWST, and recently appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Legaspi. The keynote speaker was Ambassador Henrietta de Villa.  The formal graduation ceremonies followed after the mass.  The  administration's representatives, Fr. Fred Saniel, SVD, Rector of DWST, and Fr. Alex Muana, SVD, the Dean of Studies, together with the main guest, Mrs. Tita de Villa, handed out the diplomas and awards to the graduating students.

Fourth Year Graduating Class

Mrs. Tita de Villa delivers her keynote address

Bishop Baylon at the Baccalaureate Mass

The were 22 graduates of the Certificate in Theological Studies (CTS); 39 of the Four-Year Ecclesiastical Course (18 obtained an STB diploma from Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome and 19 were awarded  an MA in Theology in the non-thesis program). For the Bachelor of Arts (AB) in Theology, there were 52 graduates--meaning these students have completed the first two years of Ecclesiastical Course which the government recognizes as an AB civil degree.

Some CTS Graduating Students

Honors

For this academic year, there was no summa cum laude honor student for the Ecclesiastical Course (that means a student who has no academic marks lower than 90 and whose average grade is from 95 to 100), usually the most prestigious of the awards. Omi Intia from the Oblates of St. Joseph, however, was awarded the summa cum laude distinction for his M.A. in Theology Major in Pastoral Ministry (non-thesis).

Omi Intia, OSJ delivers the Valedictory Speech

ALAP Award

The Arnoldus Library Academic Paper (ALAP) Award, the very first one, was won by Mark Angelo Ramos, a SVD scholastic and first year theology student. His term paper was on  “Recovering the Spirituality of the Pharisees of the First Century C.E.,"  a study of the beliefs and practices of practices of the Pharisees that reflect their relationship with God using not only the canonical Gospels but also Josephus, and the Mishnah. Its aim was to present the Pharisees in a wider historical context besides the often negative portrait of the evangelists and draw out the elements of their spirituality by which Christian theology and spirituality might be enriched.

ALAP Awardee Mark Ramos with Fr. Antolin Uy (most senior of the faculty)
Ms. Nica Lepalam (Chief Librarian);
at the back: Tita de Villa and Fr. Fred Saniel, SVD (Rector)

SVD-ALS Graduation

On March 25, 2011, the SVD-ALS also had its second graduation ceremonies at the Arnoldus Hall of Divine Word Seminary. There are around 40 learners who attended the daily modular sessions; 12 passed the Accreditation and Equivalency tests of the Department of Education. The "baccalaureate" mass was presided by no less than Fr. Nielo Cantilado, SVD, Provincial Superior; Ms. Ilsa Reyes of DZMM's Salitang Buhay was the keynote speaker. For more information about SVD-ALS, please click here.

SVD-ALS Graduation with Fr. Randy Flores, SVD

Start of Academic Year 2011-2012
DWST began the Academic Year on June 6, 2011. The traditional Mass of the Holy Spirit on June 14 to open the school year was presided by Fr. Michael Sandalo, CRSP, Rector of St. Paul's Scholasticate (Barnabites). The academic convocation was held on June 27 with Fr. Stephen Gonzales, OSJ, who teaches Christology here, delivering this year's  theological course--"Towards a Filipino Contextual Image of Christ." For the opening ceremonies of the CTS, please click here.

Fr. Mike at the Mass of the Holy Spirit

Fr. Stephen's theological discourse in powerpoint

SVD Diaconate Ordination
Eight SVD scholastics were ordained as deacons last June 25 at the Sacred Heart Hear Parish in Kamuning Quezon City. Ordaining prelate was Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of the Diocese of Cubao. The eight will be ordained priests on Dec 3, 2011.

New SVD Deacons
From left: John Mark Veloso, Sedfrey Nebres, Gilbert Razon; Reniel Nachimma
Bishop Ongtioco (ordaining prelate); John Paul Marquez, Peter Tran Vu, Louie Cris Gregorio,
and Sherwin Aromin

Numbers
There are 248 enrolled students of DWST--194 regular students; 54 CTS students. The total number of faculty members, both resident and non-resident, is 32.

At the liturgy to open the Certificate in Theological Studies SY 2011-2012

Sharing of Ms. Bambi L. Gamban  (CTS graduate 2011)



Sharing of Sister Teresa Valdez, RVM (CTS Graduate 2011)

Ukay-Ukay sa Tagaytay a Success

Summer Garage Sale - Ukay Ukay sa Tagaytay

A garage sale, Ukay Ukay sa Tagaytay, will be held on May 21-22, 2011 (Sat-Sun) at the Divine Word Seminary here in Tagaytay City for the benefit of the SVD-Alternative Learning System (ALS).

May 22 will be also the occasion for the SVD Perpetual Vows 2011.

By donating your used (but in good condition) items like shoes, bags, toys, home items, etc. you will help send  out-of-school youth to the Alternative Learning System.

Drop off point is at the SVD. Just inform the guard it is for Ukay-Ukay ALS c/o Fr. Randy Flores, SVD.

For more info, please contact 0917-6284849.

To know more about the SVD-ALS, please click here.