Church Teaching

177. “Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders, no limits: he sends us everywhere.
The Gospel is for everyone, not just for some. It is not only for those who seem closer to us,
more receptive, more welcoming. It is for everyone. Do not be afraid to go and bring
Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest
away and most indifferent. The Lord seeks all; he wants everyone to feel the warmth of
his mercy and his love”. He invites us to be fearless missionaries wherever we are and in
whatever company we find ourselves: in our neighborhoods, in school or sports or social
life, in volunteer service or in the workplace. Wherever we are, we always have an
opportunity to share the joy of the Gospel. That is how the Lord goes out to meet
everyone. He loves you, dear young people, for you are the means by which he can
spread his light and hope. He is counting on your courage, your boldness and your
enthusiasm.

178. Don’t think that this mission is soft and easy. Some young people have given their
lives for the sake of missionary outreach. As the Korean bishops put it: “we hope that we
can be grains of wheat and instruments for the salvation of humanity, following upon the
example of the martyrs. Though our faith is as small as a mustard seed, God will give it
growth and use it as an instrument for his work of salvation”. Young friends, don’t wait
until tomorrow to contribute your energy, your audacity and your creativity to changing
our world. Your youth is not an “in-between time”. You are the now of God, and he wants
you to bear fruit. For “it is in giving that we receive”. The best way to prepare a bright
future is to experience the present as best we can, with commitment and generosity.

From: POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION CHRISTUS VIVIT OF THE HOLY FATHER

FRANCIS TO YOUNG PEOPLE AND TO THE ENTIRE PEOPLE OF GOD, Given in Loreto, at the
Shrine of the Holy House, on 25 March, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the
year 2019, the seventh of my Pontificate.

25. For such an exalted task, the future missionary is to be prepared by a special spiritual
and moral training.(5) For he must have the spirit of initiative in beginning, as well as that
of constancy in carrying through what he has begun; he must be persevering in
difficulties, patient and strong of heart in bearing with solitude, fatigue, and fruitless labor.
He will encounter men with an open mind and a wide heart; he will gladly take up the
duties which are entrusted to him; he will with a noble spirit adapt himself to the people's
foreign way of doing things and to changing circumstances; while in the spirit of harmony
and mutual charity, he will cooperate with his brethren and all who dedicate themselves
to the same task, so that together with the faithful, they will be one heart and one soul
(cf. Acts 2:42; 4:32)(7) in imitation of the apostolic community.

These habits of mind should be earnestly exercised already in his time of training; they
should be cultivated, and should be uplifted and nourished by the spiritual life. Imbued
with a living faith and a hope that never fails, the missionary should be a man of prayer.
Let him have an ardent spirit of power and of love and of prudence (cf. 2 Tim. 1:7). Let
him learn to be self - sufficing in whatever circumstances (Phil. 4:11); always bearing
about in himself the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may work in those to whom he
is sent (2 Cor. 4:10ff.), out of zeal of souls, let him gladly spend all and be spent himself for
souls (cf. 2 Cor. 12:15ff.), so that "by the daily practice of his duty he may grow in the love
of God and neighbor."(8) Thus obedient to the will of the Father together with Christ, he
will continue His mission under the hierarchical authority of the Church.

From the Decree AD GENTES: ON THE MISSION ACTIVITY OF THE CHURCH. Retrieved:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-
ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html

Activity 24

Answer the following questions through a paragraph:

According to pope Francis, (a)on what does the Lord count in young people? (b)why
shouldn’t we despair if our faith is as small as a mustard seed? (c)what is the best way to
prepare a bright future?

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The Relevance of the Inspired Word of God and Church Teaching to the Topic

The study of history is only meaningful if it is performed in view of a better understanding

of the present. The actual state of the CICM today, is the result of a long evolution, in
which some personalities have played a prominent role:

ORIENTING QUESTIONS:

1.Who was CICM Superior General when the congregation was asked for the first time to
send missionaries to the Philippines? Why did the superior hesitate at first?

2.For what reason were the CICM missionaries deemed needed in the Philippines?
3.Some facts and names: (a)Where and on what date did the CICM pioneers in the
Philippines arrive? (b)Who was leading the team? (c)Who were the three of them who
were told to move on to Baguio at once?

4.More of the same:

(a)Who was parish priest of Baguio from 1913 until 1945, having to supervise the
construction of the cathedral, mainly in the 1930’s?;

(b)Who was the first parish priest to whom he had succeeded (this priest being credited
for starting a parish school that would develop later into Saint Louis University)?

(c)who was prefect apostolic of the Montañosa during World War- II (= after 1935), and
what was his job after he left Baguio?

5.Put in the right chronological order (from older to more recent); you may limit yourself
to list down the sequence of characters, corresponding to the given facts:

(a)The Tuding sisters are founded in Baguio; ___

(b)Bishop William Brasseur retires; ___

(c)Fr. Paul Zwaenepoel becomes SLU president; ___

(d)Maryhurst Seminary is opened in Baguio; ___

(e)Fr. Albert Van Overbeke is consecrated as bishop of Bayombong; ___

(f) The Asian Social Institute is founded by Fr. Senden; ___

(g)Fr. Jessie Hechanova takes over as first Philippine-born president of SLU; ___

(h)The SLU Hospital of the Sacred Heart is opened. ___

6.Know your university:

(a)In what year did Saint Louis College Baguio start its operations?

(b)How many schools (‘colleges’) were there?

(c)In what year was the school of Law started?

7.More of the same:

(a)Who was the SLU president who aimed at establishing a ‘covenant of the heart’ upon
his inauguration?

(b)Who was the president to whom he succeeded?

(c)In what college was Fr. Gilbert Sales already president when he took over SLU? 8.Which
fact, action or development do you find most significant in the history of CICM in the
Philippines? Why? Does it also have an impact on you and your relationship with God
today?

This year – 2020 - will mark the 113th anniversary of the coming over to the Philippines of
the first team of CICM missionaries from Belgium. The ten priests and one lay brother – two
of whom came from the Chinese Ortos mission – divided themselves between
Tagudin/Cervantes and Baguio/Montañosa. It meant the start of an adventurous project,
undertaken as answer to a perceived call from Christ to disseminate his message among
those who had not yet heard of Him or who were deprived from listening to His Word and
from receiving the sacraments of the Church because of rebellion and war. As such, the
project of starting a mission in the Philippines means a continuation and expansion of the
initiatives taken in Chinese Mongolia and in Congo. Gradually, as the social and political
climate improved, the Church in the Philippines grew and expanded, up to the point that
she started to provide herself missionaries to various mission-countries in the world. For the
believer, there is no doubt that this is the result of a wonderful plan of Divine Providence.
Therefore, the people of the Philippines want to say thanks; thanks to all pioneers and
succeeding generations of missionaries who left the security of their home countries,
burning of zeal for the cause of Christ and the Church ; thanks for their teachings and
their example of Christian living, even as the meaning of this has undergone significant
changes over the past decades; thanks for their contribution to social and infrastructural
development, and for their leadership in a spirit of service. The best response to what has
been received from God is not only a grateful heart, but also a committed determination
to carry on the mission, to develop the founder’s legacy. Then, the Philippine Church will
really be pleasing God, when its members form one body, and are one of heart and one
of soul in Christ, the universal Savior of mankind..

1.Introduction: the premises

On January 4, 1895, Monsignor Jacques Bax died. Fr. Jerome Van Aertselaer was
proposed as his successor, and successively confirmed by Rome as Vicar Apostolic of
Central Mongolia. He was consecrated on July 24, 1898; as Superior General he was
replaced by Fr. Adolf Van Hecke, who would play a crucial role in the start of the CICM
mission in the Philippines. In 1900, the new Constitutions of the CICM were approved by
the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide), after
examination by the Doctrinal Commission. The turn of the century created therefore, a
generally hopeful and optimistic climate in the CICM, even as the problems of the past
had left some scars left and right.

Under the influence of political developments in Spain and in some of its colonies, the
Philippines got involved in a war for independence from the Spanish motherland. Since
the Spanish religious opposed such move, they got the ire of Filipino revolutionaries on
them. Freemasons and liberals started a campaign against all that was Catholic, while
Gregorio Aglipay founded the ‘Independent Philippine Church’, as a reaction against
the Spanish-dominated Catholic Church.

In November 1901, Rev. Father Albert Gueluy, then first Assistant to the Superior General,
was approached by Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, Secretary of State under pope Leo XIII,
regarding the possibility of sending missionaries to the Philippines, to troubleshoot the
problematic situation there after the departure of the Spanish clergy, that left scores of
Catholics without priest nor sacraments.

After some years of ‘status quo’, in February, 1906, Rev. Fr. Superior General Adolf Van
Hecke received a formal request from Monsignor Ambrosius Agius, apostolic delegate to
the Philippines. There was just one problem: financing the new mission and its activities.

Besides the financial headache, Rev. Fr. Adolf Van Hecke had another, more
fundamental problem: Since the Philippines were considered as an already Christianized
country, it was actually unsuitable as a Scheut mission, since the congregation’s statutes
mentioned as one of their goals the preaching of the gospel to ‘people who haven’t
heard of Christ yet’. Father Adolf went for advice to the Prefect of the Congregation for
the Propagation of the Faith, Cardinal Gotti. There, the initially cautious reaction of Rev.
Fr. Van Hecke became more open and positive.

In June, 1906, Father Superior General sent a letter to Monsignor Agius, with a
commitment to send “3 or 4” priests, provided that they can meet regularly under the
guidance of a superior and that they will be given the means to lead a regular life while
carrying out their ministry. Monsignor Agius reassured Father Van Hecke about financial
resources in his reply, and he also wrote that the apparent dilemma between the real
pastoral situation and the statutes of the congregation was a false one: The Scheut
missionaries would be able to preach the gospel to many non-Christians in the areas to
be assigned to them.

In July, 1906, a letter from the Nueva Segovia bishop Dougherty described the future
CICM mission territory that was composed of Nueva Vizcaya, Lepanto-Bontoc, and
Benguet (which includes Baguio, the seat of the Philippine Commission and the
Government during hot Summer months).

1907 was no doubt the most decisive year for the CICM mission in the Philippines. On
March 24, the procurator of Shanghai, Rev. Fr. Alfons Decock, arrived after a 48 hour-
boat trip from Hong Kong, being sent by the Superior General on an exploration mission.
This brought him to Vigan – after another 48 hour boat ride from Manila - and to some
rectories, like in Bangued (Abra province) where a ‘suspicious priest’ did not even greet
him, in Bontoc – which he called the most beautiful mission station in the province – and
Cervantes, where the protestant American governor was raising funds for the repair of
the Catholic church! As roads were said to be in a bad state, travelling occurred either
on horseback or by bamboo raft. Father Decock wasn’t able to reach Nueva Vizcaya.
The Rome-educated, French literate and pleasant bishop Denis Dougherty of Vigan had
been very accommodating.
Finally, on September 28, 1907, the pioneers left for their mission, headed by Rev. Fr. Peter
Dierickx. First, they took the train to the Italian port city of Genoa, via Switzerland. On
October 1, their boat sailed off. They arrived in Manila on November 2, 1907.

2.The start and consolidation of the CICM Philippine mission

Church authorities had decided to divide the newcomers between Cervantes (where a
lone priest was residing) and Baguio. While their team mates sailed off for Ilocos, a group
of three (Octaaf Vandewalle, Henri Verbeeck, and Séraphin Devesse) immediately
proceeded to Baguio, after a slow train ride to Dagupan, followed by an adventurous
horse-and-carriage trip into the wonderful, “Swiss-like” mountainous landscape of the
Cordillera. Baguio was, then, an almost unnoticeably small settlement that was soon to
be developed into the country’s Summer capital by the American administration and a
bit later (in 1909) to become a chartered city.

On December 16, 1907, two priests-advisors from the mission in Ortos (China), Albert Botty
and Herman Ramaekers came to reinforce the Philippine team. Ramaekers was sent at
once, together with Jules Sépulchre and Constant Jurgens, to Bontoc, to help building a
school for boys, and a chapel.

Not so long after this, J. Sépulchre put up a new mission station in Bauko; meanwhile, C.
Jurgens introduced sericulture (silkworm culture) as a means of economic development,
based on Japanese know-how, brought by Jurgens to the Philippines. Unfortunately, the
project eventually failed due to opposition from the American Administrator.

In 1909, hardly two years after the arrival of the first missionaries, the CICM mission in the
Philippines was officially established as a full-fledged religious province, with Fr. Henri
Raymakers as first superior.

Another milestone in the establishment of the CICM mission in the Philippines is June 21,
1910: On this day, the first team of Missionary Canonesses of St. Augustine (founded by
Marie-Louise De Meester) arrived in Tagudin. The assistance of the sisters had earlier been
requested by P. Dierickx, for help in the schools and in caring for the sick.

In the shadow of the small Saint Patrick ‘s church, on the green slopes of what is now the
highly urbanized “Cathedral Hill” in Baguio, Rev. Fr. Séraphin Devesse, CICM, started with
a one-room school and approximately ten pupils. Fr. Devesse was then the Baguio parish
priest, in the capacity of which he built new churches in Cathedral Hill (1911) and Campo
Filipino (1912).

In 1913, Baguio was given a new parish priest, Rev. Fr. Florimond Carlu, CICM . With the
help of the sisters, the school was further developed, so it had a complete four-year
curriculum by 1915. A trade school was also opened, and a High School by 1921, in
Campo Filipino. The first high school graduates left the school in 1929.

The following years saw a first separation between the high schools for boys (in Cathedral
Hill) and for girls (in Campo Filipino), the first left to the care of the CICM priests, the second
– to be renamed as ‘Holy Family College’ in 1935 - to the ICM sisters. Elementary
departments, however, would remain in both locations.

After Father Henri Raymakers had been succeeded as Provincial Superior by Fathers
Joseph Schipman and Albert Van Zuyt, Father Godfried Aldenhuijsen was appointed to
that function in 1925. That was also the year in which the General Administration of Scheut
asked the Philippine province to prioritize missionary work among non-Christians. That was
the go-ahead signal for the accelerated expansion of CICM presence in Benguet and
the Mountain Province through several new mission stations; by 1940, there were twenty
of them, plus ninety barrio chapels. By that time, the CICM also ran thirty-five elementary
and six high schools. Schools were considered as an important support to the pastoral
work in parishes.

In another part of Northern Luzon, Monsignor Constant Jurgens became bishop of

Tuguegarao in 1928. Meanwhile, because of the fast expansion of CICM missions in the
Cordillera mountains, the Prefecture Apostolic of the Mountain Province was set up by
Rome on July 5, 1932. In 1933, Father Octaaf Vandewalle was appointed as first Prefect
Apostolic. Unfortunately, Fr. Vandewalle had some differences of opinion with the
Provincial Superior (Father Leo Quintelier) and the Bishop of Vigan (Msgr. Sancho), on
various matters. He offered his resignation while being in Rome on May 26, 1935 and was
succeeded as Prefect Apostolic still in the same year by another confrere, Father Joseph
Billiet.

Meanwhile, the ordination of the first native Catholic priest, Fr. Alberto Duggom, from
Pantiklan, Salegseg, became a fact in 1940. Unfortunately, the joy caused by this event
was short-lived, due to the onset of World War-II. The war would eventually lead to the
suspension of classes for several years, since class rooms and buildings were either
damaged by bombardments or used as quarters by occupying forces. Around 80% of
CICM physical structures will end up being destroyed during those war years and five
CICM priests, including Father Séraphin Devesse, were killed in separate incidents. The
others were Fr. Ferdinand Wijgerde (died from a bullet during an air attack in Baguio), Fr.
Frans De Snick (killed in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya) Fr. Laurent Decaestecker (murdered
together with Fr. Devesse in Santiago, Isabela), and Fr. Frans Antonissen (killed in
Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya). In 1945, classes first resumed in tents, in the shadow of
bombed-out structures.

3. Post-World War-II expansion: new hope and initiatives

On January 1, 1946, a new and brighter chapter starts in the history of the local Church
in the Northern Philippines. Succeeding Fr. Maurits De Brabandere, newly appointed
Provincial Superior Fr. William Brasseur had a tremendous task in rebuilding the destroyed
material, social, and religious infrastructure. This coincided with the declaration of the
Independent Republic of the Philippines, on July 4, 1946.

On June 21, 1948, the Prefecture Apostolic became the Vicariate Apostolic of the
Montañosa; Provincial Superior William Brasseur was promoted as first Vicar Apostolic of
the Montañosa. On August 24, 1948, he was consecrated as a bishop in the cathedral of
Baguio. Father Rafaël Desmedt became Provincial Superior. Meanwhile, in July 1948,
twelve CICM confreres who were expelled during the Revolution in China arrive in the
Philippines. On top of these, new missionaries, whose formation and assignment had
been delayed by the war, kept arriving to replace the old ones and help in the expansion
of the mission and especially of the schools where enrollment was soaring. For this reason,
a lot of things were well around that time.

Superior General Jozef Vandeputte, after a visit to the troubled China mission, visited
nearly all mission stations by the end of 1948. That was the time to convert the name
‘Belgian Catholic Missionaries’ into ‘Immaculate Heart Mission Society’.

In September 1949, the publication of the magazine The Little Apostle, that had been
suspended during the war, is resumed. It was an important way for the missionaries to
reach out to scores of Catholics, including college students. This category of the young
population drew more and more attention from the CICM missionaries.

1952: The new chapter in global and Philippine history led to another milestone in the
history of Baguio. Initially bishop William Brasseur had been thinking to take over the
Baguio Colleges (that later became the University of the Cordilleras), but it turned out
that the development of the existing Saint Louis High School into a college was a better
idea. With the support of CICM-provincial superior Rafael Desmedt, as well as bishop
William Brasseur, CICM, Catholic higher education became a reality in Baguio, with the
foundation of Saint Louis College, initially housed in Session Road and counting just 75
students, spread over the colleges of commerce, engineering, liberal arts and education.
Rev. Fr. Gerard Decaestecker, CICM, was the first rector of the new college. Two years
later, he left to become professor at the new San Carlos seminary in Makati. He was
replaced by Fr. Albert Van Overbeke, who would later become bishop of Bayombong.

Still in 1952, Bishop Brasseur founded a female religious congregation for the Mountain
Provinces, called ‘the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary’ (S.I.H.M. – better known
under their popular local name of ‘Tuding sisters’). Addressing the General Chapter in
1975, the bishop declared: “Both these aspirations of these young girls and the need for
religious sisters to evangelize especially the women and children, urged me to start an
exclusive diocesan congregation, where only candidates [who are] natives of the
Mountain Province, or young girls who have spent most of their youth in the Vicariate and
are acquainted with the culture of the people of this Vicariate would be admitted”.
Among the tasks of the sisters figure aspects of the typical missionary’s apostolate:
“catechetical work, education in the schools, social education, health improvement”.

Rector Decaestecker is credited for having introduced the SLU device Sapientia
aedificat or “Wisdom builds”, where ‘’wisdom” may well refer to moral values as well as
to scientific knowledge. Not for nothing also did bishop William Brasseur call on the new
university to be “Light of the North” referring to a beautiful seasonal natural phenomenon
in Northern countries, as well as to the “light” of knowledge and faith in the Northern part
of the Philippines. The religious education was also expected to enhance awareness of
the nature and the mission of CICM.
Perhaps as a result of the increased number of young missionaries, the fifties were a very
expansive period for CICM in the Philippines. CICM was offered in 1951 to take over the
Major Seminary of Lipa (Batangas). Former Montañosa Prefect Apostolic Joseph Billiet,
CICM, was appointed rector. CICM candidates and seminarians also took their courses
there.

In the same year, the first CICM-seminary is opened in the newly rebuilt Home Sweet
Home, Baguio.Two years later, in 1953, the first CICM-novitiate started in Baguio City, with
Rev. Fr. George Hantson as novice master.

Still in 1953, the major seminaries of Lipa and Manila were merged and became San
Carlos Seminary, housed in Makati. CICM candidates, as well as theology seminarians of
the Montañosa attend classes there too, until the opening of CICM-owned Maryhill
School of Theology in 1972.

On December 14, 1953, four local priests were ordained by bishop Brasseur in the
Montañosa. A bit later, after a short move to Dominican Hill, the Baguio Seminary was
transferred to barangay Lucnab and given the name Maryhurst Seminary in 1955. It was
housing the juniorate (2 years), the novitiate (1 year) and the philosophicum (3 years).

On October 7, 1955, the Minor Seminary is detached from the Major (San Carlos)
Seminary and becomes Our Lady of Guadelupe Minor Seminary, a familiar name in the
local church of the Philippine capital region. Meanwhile, the Saint Louis College was
expanded with a College or School of Law in 1954; the opening of the Graduate school
only took place in 1956, initially offering Master of Arts in English and Education.

A report by Provincial Superior Fr. Raphael Desmedt of 1957 states that CICM-Philippines
was serving around 50 mission stations, 36 high schools and 6 colleges. Fr. Desmedt was
elected second assistant to the Superior General during the 1957 General Chapter, and
left for Rome. He was replaced as Provincial Superior by Karel Pieters.

In 1959, Father Prudencio Costales was the first Filipino CICM member to be ordained to
the priesthood. In another important development, the CICM theology students moved
into a new building in Taytay, Rizal, while still following their courses in San Carlos Seminary.
The place is called Maryhill Seminary, and was also housing the first pastoral year (until
1964, when it was cancelled).

4. The sixties and seventies: a push for even more educational involvement

In 1962, the Minor Seminary Maryheights was founded in Baguio, one out of three that
were to become pillars in a recruitment drive for future missionaries. Still in 1962, the Asian
Social Institute (ASI) was founded by Fr. Francis Senden in Manila. It offers an alternative
kind of ‘graduate studies’, combining research and social action, within a philosophical
framework of ‘interconnectedness’. Father Senden had been struck by the huge
inequality in the Philippines when it comes to access to opportunities of participation in
society. Therefore, the ASI praxis of social transformation includes tie-ups with fisherfolk
and family cluster leaders, farmers and other marginalized groups, in view of self-
empowerment, and holistic development.

In 1962, the Catechetical Institute for Religious Education was erected in Baguio. Rev. Fr.
Gerard Linssen takes over the function of rector of Saint Louis College, and becomes
soon thereafter the first president of the newly promoted university (1963-1964). It meant
a temporary climax in the steady development of Catholic higher learning in the City.
Meanwhile, a lot of CICM parish priests in the Cordillera and surrounding provinces were
giving moral and financial support to deserving students, who wanted to proceed to
college studies in Saint Louis University (SLU). Through those parishes, a network of
elementary and high schools supplied the university with candidates. More and more,
the university was becoming the ‘face’ of CICM in the city of Baguio. The university status
was officially granted on May 13, 1963, but inauguration rites had to wait until October
12 of that year.

Education wasn’t only in Baguio a major value in the CICM expansion; in 1964, the CICM
congregation took over the Father Burgos College in San Fernando, La Union; Rev. Fr.
Alfred Spincemaille was assigned as first head.

In 1964, Rev. Fr. Paul Zwaenepoel succeeded to Fr. Linssen as SLU president. Under his
guidance, the university made a significant leap forward in terms of quantity of students,
faculty members and programs as well as in quality. Fr. Zwaenepoel also knew how to
find funding among governments and non-governmental aid agencies in Belgium, the
Netherlands, Germany, and the U.S., to finance an ambitious building and campus
development plan that included several multi-storey concrete buildings, especially in the
first half of the 1970’s.

In1968, the SLU-college level division had left Cathedral hill for a swap with the high school
that was located in the much more spacious Mount Mary Hill, now Bonifacio Street
Campus (particularly the Diego Silang building).

In March, 1965 – ten years after its Baguio counterpart Maryhurst - a CICM Mission
Seminary was opened in Bacolod (Negros). It was called Maryshore, and was meant to
accommodate student candidates for the CICM from the Ilongo and Cebuano speaking
areas.

On April 7, 1965, the Mountain Province Broadcasting Corporation (MPBC) was founded
in Baguio. A driving force behind this was Fr. Hugo Delbaere, who would later also play
an important role later in the technical department of Radio Veritas, a broadcasting
station of the bishops of Asia.

The Saint Louis School in Tuguegarao, originally founded by Monsignor Constant Jurgens
in 1937, and consecutively taken over by the Jesuits, returned into CICM hands in 1965.
In 1966, the construction of a new theologicum started in Taytay, Rizal. However, due to
the effects of Vatican II and the changing times, the buildings will be used as a center
for retreats in the 1980’s.
Education and formation remained at the forefront of CICM development when in 1967,
after having been present in the Saint Joseph minor seminary since 1961, CICM started
its own high school, unsurprisingly called ‘Saint Louis School’, in Dumaguete, Negros
Oriental.

In 1968 – four years after San Fernando (La Union) - CICM took over the administration of
the expanding Saint Mary’s University, Bayombong, to alleviate financial burden for the
new prelature, headed by a confrere. On December 1, 1969, Fr. Albert Van Overbeke
was consecrated as bishop of the prelature of Bayombong (praelatura nullius), that had
existed since 1966. The prelature was erected as a diocese on November 15, 1982.

In 1971, a team of CICM professors was proposing a thorough reform at the San Carlos
Seminary, to which the CICM was still providing the faculty, as per contract with the
archdiocese. They wanted among others changes in the team of administrators, the
possibility to invite guest professors, and a gradual turnover of academic positions to
qualified Filipino professors. Backed by their Provincial and General governments, they
met with resistance by Cardinal Santos, however. The seminary case was brought to the
Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome. Eventually, in 1972, Maryhill School
of Theology was founded, in Taytay (Rizal), offering a full range of courses in theology.
Among the 75 students were not only CICM ‘theologians’, but also seminarians from other
dioceses, as well as religious and lay people.

On August 23, 1973, Father Francis Senden died, the founder of the Asian Social Institute
(ASI), a pioneer in work with street children and great inspirer of the Senden Home, later
founded by sister Mathilde Van Kerckhoven, ICM (who died 2012).

Meanwhile, Rev. Fr. Ghisleen De Vos , treasurer and Vice-President for Finance, succeeds
as president of SLU to his confrere Rev. Fr. Paul Zwaenepoel. He is credited among others
with the upgrading and initial computerization of the university’s accounting system and
the opening of the colleges of nursing and medicine, as the Hospital of the Sacred Heart
was completed (1977). Fr. De Vos suddenly died in 1983. The experienced school
administrator Rev. Fr. Joseph Van den Daelen proved to be the right choice for
successor.

5. The context of rapid transformation, leading to the turn of the century

Bishop William Brasseur retired in 1981 and was succeeded by (former auxiliary) Bishop
Emiliano Madangeng. In 1989, CICM-Philippines had for the first time a native Provincial
Superior, Fr. Wilfredo Dulay. This was an important step in a process that has been called
‘Filipinization’ of the Philippine province. The influence of new missiological and
ecclesiological perspectives that were developed during and after the Council Vatican
II, led to discussions about the overall direction that CICM should take.

On July 16, 1990, Baguio City and surrounding provinces were hit by a 7.8-strong
earthquake, leaving around 5,000 people dead and destroying plenty of property. Saint
Louis University had been affected by student and faculty unrest, which had lead to the
suspension of classes. Partially for this reason, unlike its unfortunate neighbor the University
of Baguio (UB), SLU had miraculously zero casualties.

In 1996, Rev. Fr. Paul Van Parijs became the university’s fifth president, having been
appointed shortly before as Director of the SLU Institute of Religion – to which also
Philosophy would be added soon thereafter - upon his return from an assignment as
CICM Vicar-General in Rome. Father Paul established a “Covenant of the Heart” with the
university and invited all who were a part of it to do the same. Father Paul is reputed for
having raised salary scales, and emphasized the importance of faculty competence,
which lead to the creation of a large number of sponsored Master’s and Doctoral
scholarship projects.

In 2005, the first natural-born Filipino to lead the university introduced strategic planning.
Rev. Fr. Jessie M. Hechanova, CICM, formerly missionary in Africa, then president in Saint
Mary’s University-Bayombong, became Saint Louis University’s sixth president. Under his
leadership the number of students and study programs reached an unprecedented high,
requiring major new building projects such as the Maryheights campus (Devesse building)
in the city’s green Bakakeng district, and the extended Navy Base Road Campus (Gerard
Decaestecker building)

In 2015, as the CICM-connection of Saint Louis University was ever more underscored, it
could welcome the seventh SLU-president in the person of Rev. Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM.
Quite exceptionally, Father Gilbert was also president of Saint Louis College in San
Fernando- La Union, a function he continued to carry out until 2018, when Fr. Ramon
Caluza – outgoing CICM Provincial Superior - became head of SLC. Father Gilbert
continues to be a member of several CICM-committees and organizations in the field of
Higher Education. The emphasis of his administration is on academic excellence and
missionary spirit. In 2019, former SLU president Fr. Jessie Hechanova became Provincial
Superior of CICM in the Philippines. It illustrates somehow the strong impact of the CICM-
founded schools and universities on the life and identity of the CICM-Philippine province.
But, definitely, there is more. CICM missionaries remain involved in a wide range of
charitable projects, such as with the blind, the deaf and mute, lepers, the urban poor,
and indigenous communities. While the congregation is still involved in parish work, and
even new parishes were started in depressed areas – such as in San Mateo (Rizal), in
Negros, and in Agusan (Mindanao) - the restless search for alternative missionary frontline
projects is being intensified. Missionaries keep looking out for places where they are most
needed. And recently, a lay missioners’ society was crafted, to support the religious and
priests in the congregation through various forms of involvement or commitment.

Distinct Contribution of the CICM - Philippines

Read and briefly comment on the following personality descriptions!

ORIENTING QUESTIONS:

(1)What was the very first place of assignment of Fr. Octave Vandewalle in the
Philippines?
(2)Wat major problem did he encounter in Nueva Vizcaya?

(3) What can be considered as the height of his church career?

(4)How do his relatives today honor his memory and legacy?

(5)Give three examples of how Fr. Mike Seys was forced to live in isolation as a result of
his assignment?

(6) Were missionaries still carrying out other functions than preaching the message of
Jesus Christ?

(7)What were the most difficult years he had to go through?

(8)What happened to Fr. Leo Vande Winkel?

(9)What function did Fr Gerard Braeckman perform in SLU for many years, and for which
he is best known?

(10)Does Fr. Francis Gevers support ‘philosophizing’ in an ivory tower?

(11)How could his personal ‘motto’ be reconstructed?

(12)Which achievement among the four presented cases has struck you most, and why?

Octave (also ‘Oktaaf’) Vandewalle was born in Heestert, a rural town in the south of
Belgium’s West-Flanders province, on 30 May, 1879. He was the eldest of three children,
as his parents were running a shoe store near the town’s central market square. After
graduating from High School in the diocesan Saint Joseph’s College of Tielt, he entered
the missionary congregation of Scheut (CICM), in which he took his first religious vows on
8 September, 1900. In compliance with the usual formation process, he was ordained as
a priest on 16 July, 1905. Right thereafter, he taught philosophy to his aspiring confreres
for two years. On 1 October, 1907, he was sent to the foreign mission. The trip would take
them around one month. It immediately became an important assignment, since his
mission territory was in the Philippines, a country that the Congregation just had
accepted – after China and Congo – and where the young Father Vandewalle would
be one of the pioneers. He belonged, indeed, to the team of three young priests (his
companions being Seraphin Devesse and Henri Verbeeck) who would be sent to Baguio,
a new town being built by the American colonial administration to function as the
country’s summer capital. The pioneering CICM team in the Philippines had, shortly after
their arrival and upon the instruction of bishop Dougherty of Vigan, been divided into two
smaller groups, one of which headed via Tagudin to Cervantes, while the other went
straight to Baguio. The day after their arrival, Father Vandewalle already gave the homily
in Spanish during a mass in a private house. Later that day, he is said to have gone around
Baguio, as he visited a certain Father Algue, who happened to be a scientist and showed
to Fr. Vandewalle the lot along Session Road that had been bought by Monsignor Agius,
the Apostolic Delegate, and was intended for the mission’s school, church and rectory.
Acquiring, securing and documenting church properties would remain one of the main
interests of Fr. Vandewalle, like during his first visit to the influential Fianza family in Itogon.
He was also tasked to hold negotiations with the family of a retired secretary to acquire
their house in Baguio for the Belgian fathers when the allotted time for their stay at the
Tabacalera cottage was about to expire.

Fr. Vandewalle didn’t stay for too long in Baguio. The next year, superior P. Dierickx sent
him to Nueva Vizcaya province, together with newly arrived Father Joseph Tahon and
Brother Eduard Cools. It seems Father Vandewalle went so fast that the horses of his
companions had a hard time following him! While Father Tahon and Brother Cools would
both stay in Dupax – according to Father Dierickx’ impression the best suited among
Nueva Vizcaya parishes for starting missionary work there – Father Vandewalle
proceeded to Bayombong where he was expected on May 1, 1908. During the first few
weeks, he would enjoy the companionship of Fr. Caruana, secretary of the Apostolic
Delegate, who was trying to secure the return of properties that had been occupied by
Aglipayans to the Catholic Church. The tensions between the members of the Iglesia
Filipina Independiente of Gregorio Aglipay and the Catholics were running particularly
high in Nueva Vizcaya in those times.

From 1908 to 1911 Father Vandewalle was the superior in Bayombong. During that time,
he had to learn the local language (Gaddang). In one incident, he had to intervene to
separate the Catholic crowd from a protestant minister who had been annoying them
with his unsolicited uninterrupted preaching. Father Vandewalle, then, simply asked the
band to continue playing and distract the minds. In another incident, he was threatened
by a man with a bolo (large knife) as he was trying to arrange a marriage between a
Catholic girl and a protestant young man. One day, as he was crossing on horseback
the Aglipayan priest of Bambang, this one pulled his gun and fired a shot at him,
fortunately missing him narrowly. Father Vandewalle reported the incident to the
governor. The gun would later be taken from the man, who already had similar
precedents. In 1909, Father Vandewalle was the “brains” behind the creation of the
Bayombong Farmers Association, meant as a platform to teach farmers and improve
agricultural output. They introduced a second harvest for rice, and planted a large
number of fruit and vegetables, including banana trees, pineapple plants, coffee plants,
corn etc.

In 1911, you could find Father Vandewalle as superior in Solano. Later, the provincial
transferred Fr. Vandewalle to Cavite, from where he would work as ambulant missionary
preacher. Experiences in Tagudin and Bangar, where thousands of people were drawn
to church during Fr. Vandewalle’s “mission”, illustrate how skilled the man was in this kind
of matter. During one of his sermons on hell on a Thursday in 1912, there even was an
earthquake! However, when Father Jurgens left on a short mission to Holland and the
United States, Vandewalle replaced him in Bontoc. During this time, he was able to
acquire a house in Tetepan, a barrio of Sagada, where weekend catechism classes were
taught and a grade school would be put up.

In 1913, Father Florimond Carlu was transferred from the Ilocos town of Tagudin to Baguio,
so he would stay nearer to the provincial, who had solicited him to be one of his advisors.
Father Vandewalle replaced him permanently in the Southern Ilocano town. He would
stay there for seven years. During that time, he further demonstrated his skills as a
preacher, as well as those of a fund-raiser in Manila. He also functioned as temporary
“fictitious” superior for the (German) SVD missionaries who had missions in Abra province
and risked to be deported as a result of the war. In order to be prepared if deportation
would effectively become a reality, and to prevent confiscation of belongings and
properties, everything was properly inventoried. Eventually, three CICM members would
need to be temporarily assigned in Abra by 1918, but since the CICM Superior General
wasn’t keen to take over the province for good, all were withdrawn the next year.
Meanwhile, Father Vandewalle had to intervene in defense of the bishop of Vigan, who,
being of German descent, had been falsely accused of using his confessional to spread
anti-American feelings. After Father Vandewalle had written to the Governor General in
Manila, the bishop was allowed to stay.

In 1920, the General Chapter had decided to open a mission in the United States, under
the supervision of the Philippine province, as a possible source of fundraising for the latter
that had remained cash-strapped most of the time. Fr. Depré reports that Father
Vandewalle – just like his former companion-pioneer Peter Dierickx – had been asked to
join the new mission, but had equally thanked for the invitation. Having become vice-
provincial, another assignment in Baguio City as rector of the Central House (Home Sweet
Home) was waiting instead, as well as that of director of the Catholic School Press and
editor of a new publication in English, The Little Apostle of the Mountain Province. This one
would also be made available in Spanish under the title El Misionero. Indeed, in 1917,
the printing press of Fr. Joseph Schipman had been transferred from Bayombong to
Baguio. Other printing equipment had also been acquired, some of which as
secondhand. Not only catechisms, prayer books and bibles were produced; orders were
also accepted from businesses, hotels and from the American authorities at Camp John
Hay. The proceeds were enough to cover a good part of the expenses of the mission
stations and the central house.

Thereafter, Father Octave’s missionary career became gradually more administration-

oriented. He would soon learn how tricky an administrator’s job can be! A significant
anecdote reveals, perhaps, the call to leadership that Father Vandewalle must have
experienced. When the term of Provincial Superior Father Albert Van Zuyt was coming to
an end in 1925, Father Vandewalle erroneously thought he would be the successor;
apparently, he had been the victim of a misunderstanding between him and a confrere
who just had arrived from Belgium and who had told him that his name had been
mentioned in a conversation about the situation in the Philippines. Eventually, it was
Father Godfried Aldenhuysen who was appointed as new provincial superior in that year.

In 1930, after a two-year stay in Belgium, Father Vandewalle was back in Baguio, carrying
out his old functions. But soon, there would be more to come. After a decade of
hesitation and postponing, the CICM General Government endorsed the proposal to
detach the Montañosa province, including the city of Baguio, from the diocese of
Vigan’s jurisdiction. Such move had the general support of the local CICM confreres, but
was met with high caution by others, among whom Monsignor Sancho, the bishop of
Vigan himself. The CICM had preferred a vicariate over a prefecture from the start, but,
as this wasn’t granted, bishop Sancho took advantage to insist on separating the city of
Baguio and even Cervantes from the new prefecture, claiming that these places
needed the authority of a full-fledged bishop, not just of a prefect. His attempts
eventually remained without result, not even as he slowed down the turnover of church
lands to the new prefecture, while such was mandated by church law.

On July 19, 1933, Father Vandewalle was appointed as first apostolic prefect of the
Montañosa. He received the news by telegram from Scheut on July 23. The installation of
the new prefect took place on 10 September, 1933, with Msgr Jurgens, CICM pioneer
and meanwhile bishop of Tuguegarao, as presider. Although they had been invited,
neither the Apostolic Delegate nor the bishop of Vigan were personally present. Soon
thereafter, CICM Provincial Superior Fr. Leo Quintelier repeatedly had misunderstandings
with the Apostolic Prefect in matters of missionary methods, financial support, and
appointments. Feeling insufficiently supported by Church personalities, Fr. Vandewalle
eventually offered his resignation while he was in Rome in May 1935. He was succeeded
by Father Joseph Billiet as Apostolic Prefect of the Montañosa soon thereafter. Later in
1935, he was appointed as rector of the CICM community in Torhout, West-Flanders,
Belgium. He loyally carried out his function until 1944, when he retired, except during the
years 1947-1950, when he took up his function again for the last time. He would continue
staying in Torhout until his death on 25 August, 1968.

As of 2017, his nephew Laurent Vandewalle – retired pharmacist in Wevelgem, Belgium,

then 102 years old – was still keeping his uncle’s ring and pectoral cross, while a
grandniece of the former apostolic prefect – Ms. Ria Deleu – is holding his typewriter and
a handwritten transcript of some of his letters. They recall him as a physically and mentally
strong person, very independent-minded, and… usually surrounded by a smell of pipe
tobacco. They still see him as a man to be proud of. His example can inspire others
choosing to walk with the Lord at their side!

(SOURCES: *Depré, Albert. (1992). From a Tiny Shoot: The History of the Philippine CICM
Province.*KADOC archives (Catholic Documentation Center), Leuven, Belgium. With a
special word of thanks to Rev. Fr. Guido Cooman, who is conducting a research project
on Father Octave Vandewalle, and happens to hail from the same town as the late
apostolic prefect.)
Rev. Fr. Michel (‘Mike’) Seys, CICM, (born November 23, 1930) has been assigned the
whole of his missionary life in the Kalinga-Apayao area in the Northern Philippines. Not
surprisingly, he finds it a pity that CICM pulled out from the Montañosa and shifted its field
of action more to the southern Philippines.

He took vows in 1951, was ordained in 1956, a batch that he shared among others with
Jerome Heyndrickx (who is famous for his role in the Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation, a
joint venture created in 1983 between the CICM North Belgium and Sinica provinces and
the Catholic University of Leuven).

He arrived in the Philippines in 1957, was assigned at once to Allaguia, a part of Pinukpuk,
Kalinga. At that time, he was all alone in that place, while Fr. Karel Pieters had become
provincial superior (who would never be able to reach that place). All of the barrios
where Fr. Mike would be assigned were to be accessed by walking; no road was leading
there. Distances were expressed in three, five … hours of hiking. In a later assignment, Fr.
Mike had anthropologist Fr. Jules De Raedt as his companion; upon arriving from his tours,
he had a lot to tell; it was Jules, however, who took note, writing it down. Once a month,
the CICM priests had a recollection in the regional center, Lubuagan (a mission station
founded in 1926). It was a most appreciated moment for them, since it was the time to
meet with their confreres and share experiences before going back into isolation. There
was no electricity in remote areas in those days, some places even have none until
today… Communication with the district house happened through radio. Huts were
standing on posts; sleeping was done on the floor, sitting on wood blocks, as there were
no bed, nor seats. Lubuagan had a very good regional teacher education school (two-
year program). The CICM priests had a yearly retreat in Maryhurst, Baguio City.

The most terrible times were +/- the 1970’s and early 1980’s, the height of the communist
insurgency. Lubuagan was where the police and military had their local headquarters,
but all the barrios were in the hands of the New People’s Army (NPA). Fr. Leo Vande
Winkel, CICM, before his “disappearance” in 1988, was Mike’s companion for some time
and they held lengthy conversations… Leo was allegedly more frank with the rebels and
their sympathizers, and dared to tell them some “strong” things, while Mike was “a
coward” (his own words). The military were envious of the priests since these could go to
the barrios without being harmed by the people, while the NPA suspected the priests of
transmitting their secrets to the police. The situation began to “improve” after citizens in
the barrios were armed by the military, even as they earned little and (ab)used their arms
sometimes to pressure or extort etc. people… However, it was an effective strategy to
keep the NPA out of the villages. Lots of people got killed. Every month, teachers had to
turn over P1,000 (around 25% of their monthly salary), as a result of NPA extortion.

Missionaries were beloved, also for their work as medical practitioners. They had received
a training in tropical medicine in Leuven as a part of their initial formation. There were
simply no other doctors available in remote parts of the highlands way back in the 1970’s
and the priests were even addressed as “doctors”. During his visits to the barangays, Fr.
Mike always had two strong boys with him who were carrying large boxes with medicines.
Some could be bought in Lubuagan, but more could be found in Tuguegarao. Common
diseases to be treated, especially among children, included bronchitis, measles, worms,
malaria.

Tensions could vary from place to place, but there was a more or less continuous strife
among the different (sub)tribes, located in different barrios. This more or less permanent
state of (tribal) war gave to the Kalinga and other Cordillera tribes the reputation of
“headhunters”. Hunting wild pigs, deers, etc., was indeed one of the tasks of the men,
who, for the rest, kept themselves busy with cutting firewood and stacking it for the rainy
season, as well as taking care of the children, as the women were working in the fields.
They were working as “slaves”, Fr. Mike says. They had to plant, to harvest. The men, at
most, were carrying the heavy sacks to the village.

Before he had left for Kalinga in 1957, Fr. Mike had met people in Manila telling him not
to go there, since the people there were allegedly having “horns and tails”, a prejudice
resulting from the headhunting practice. But Fr. Mike trusted in the Lord, that He would
complete the missionary vocation that He had started in him.

[Notes recorded after an oral conversation on June 13, 2017; Father Mike currently resides
at Home Sweet Home, Baguio City]

Rev. Fr. Gerard Braeckman, CICM, was born on May 22, 1931, in the Flemish flower capital
Lochristi, in the vicinity of Ghent.

After finishing his high school years at the Catholic Sint-Lievenscollege in Ghent in 1951,
he entered the novitiate of CICM in Zuun near Brussels, where he also studied philosophy
and theology. After his ordination in Brussels in 1957, he continued his studies at the
Catholic University of Leuven, where he eventually finished with a PhD in zoology in 1966.
As he was preparing his doctoral dissertation, Fr. Gerard had been assistant researcher in
the zoology laboratory of the university. He published two titles on the antlion insect in
Dutch in the year thereafter.

He was initially assigned to work in Congo (like Rev. Fr. Evarist Verlinden, who started the
department of psychology and guidance center in SLU, and whose missionary ‘career’
shows similarities to that of Fr. Gerard). However, he ended up in the Philippines, where
he would join the SLU College of Arts and Sciences as Department Head of Biology in
1967. The next year, the College was split in two: the College of Human Sciences and the
College of Natural Sciences. Of the latter, he would become the first and long serving
dean. From 1968 to 1970, he was also coordinator and lecturer of the National Science
Development Board Summer Institute for Biology in SLU.

Having taught Genetics, General Entomology, ‘Microtechnique’ (now called

‘Histotechnique’), and History of Biology, Evolution, and Ecology, he retired from his main
functions in 1998, and became Director of the Plant Propagation Laboratory – where he
had a spacious office -, as well as Supervisor of the Natural Sciences Research Unit (NSRU).

He passed away on June 12, 2006, and was interred at the Maryhurst Seminary cemetery.

[Sources: SLU Chronicle, 41, 2 (2006), p. 52; SLU Braeckman’s Museum of Natural History].
Rev. Fr. Francis Gevers, CICM, was born on December 17, 1919, in the town of
Kwaadmechelen, province of Limburg, Belgium.

Born in a Catholic family, and having received a Catholic formation in a traditional

boarding school, the young Francis Gevers got in touch with the ‘Catholic Student
Action’, a movement mainly for high school and college students, that aimed not only
at the promotion of the Catholic faith and the sacraments, but at a total revolution,
consisting of an inner reconversion, and an external mission in the world.

The social and political climate in Belgium and Europe before World War-II was
significantly different from what it became in later decades. So, determined to defend
the Catholic faith and morals against the threat of secularism, anti-clericalism,
communism and nazi-totalitarianism, Francis decided in 1938 to join the novitiate of the
CICM missionaries; the next year he could already take his philosophical formation at the
mother house in Scheut, Brussels, Belgium. In spite of the outbreak of the war, Francis
could continue with his studies in theology in Leuven, and be ordained in 1944. After
obtaining a Bachelor’s in Philosophy at the university there, he became a professor of

philosophy in the study house in Scheut for two years. In 1948, he could pursue further
studies at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, in the nearby Netherlands. His PhD defense
took place in 1952, with a

dissertation on ‘the Problem of Evil’. Father Gevers also wrote books and a play for young
people. He was meant to become a missionary in China, but due to the Communist
Revolution there, that was no longer possible, so he was sent to the Philippines, where
college courses were newly opened at Saint Louis College in the city of Baguio. He
arrived there in 1952, and after a year of proficiency in Berkeley, California, he was
appointed as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and started teaching philosophy
courses in the Graduate School. In those years, he was residing at the Patria de Baguio
building (in Session Road, near to the Baguio Cathedral and the Post office). The building
was actually a Catholic Pastoral Center, where lots of activities took place, including
even the showing of movies! In those years, aside from writing regularly columns in the
Catholic newsletter The Sentinel, Fr. Francis started the Chiro Youth Movement in the
Philippines, that was (and still is) very popular in Belgium, even as its style has evolved over
the years. Fr. Gevers defined Chiro as ‘a community of young Christians’, that was
supposed to be present in every parish. Through games, hiking, camping, drama playing,
etc., young people were offered lots of funny activities, but not merely for the sake of
fun, but also in view of the promotion of the Catholic faith and the sacraments. Ms. Esther
Mendoza Pacheco, once herself a national Chiro leader for the girls’ branch, stated her
impression as follows: “We can without reserve say that one of the lasting and fruitful
contributions of the Philippine CICM Apostolate has been the Chiro movement”. But also
as a philosophy professor, Father Gevers was well known and well-appreciated, even as
he was also known for being very strict with students. Throwing chalks at daydreaming
students was just one of his notorious tricks to elicit attention during classes! His personal
motto must have sounded a bit as ‘Aim high’, which he wholeheartedly also shared with
his students. Only if students give the very best of themselves, and reject mediocrity, may
they reach what he called that ‘peak of culture’, which can be expected from every
university student and graduate. To illustrate this, Fr. Gevers did not content himself with
repeating wat he had learned himself in the past, but he confronted his past learnings
with new books, authors, and the intellectual trends of his time. Here, we discover Father
Gevers as the opposite of a ‘seclusionist’. University teachers and students should not lock
themselves into their little “certainties” but dare to confront and dialogue with other
theories and opinions. Only then will they give evidence of ‘academic excellence’. At
the same time, they may reveal themselves as eminent ‘missionaries’, if they show their
Christian faith in their way of life, and in their apostolic-minded service to others, as
members of a parish, under the supervision of local church authorities.

To conclude, I am quoting Dr. Julius Mendoza (UP Baguio), who is himself a disciple of Fr.
Gevers: “Suffering lived as liberation and consecration is suffering finding meaning.
Gevers declares: “When suffering man experiences that his suffering is meaningful, then
he has an implicit and unique experience of God”.

(Source: D. Alterado, J. Mendoza, & W. Vanhoutte (Eds.). (2012). Francis Gevers, CICM:
Missionary and Philosopher of our Times: Essays and Commentaries. Baguio City: Saint
Louis University. P. 246.)