Questionaires

Introduce yourself: Name, Career, Age

Fr. Nicholas Del Maria Solis, member of the Order of the Friars Minor Conventual
congregation. An international congregation which founded by St. Francis of Assisi
in the 12th century. A missionary in Ilocos Sur, born in Pangasinan. Their main office
is in Parañaque City, Metro Manila.
How many years have you been serving our parish?
3 years
When did you enter the seminary? Where or what seminary school?
1994, when he was 20, and now he is 50 years old. St. Maximillian Seminary in
Parañaque City.
Why did you become a priest?
He has no idea of entering the seminary. His dreams were to enter the Philippine
Military Academy (PMA) or to become an Engineer. But after he finished his college
degree and worked for 2 years, then he entered the seminary. It wasn’t a plan or
not really his ambition to become a priest, but rather is a calling.
When and how did you receive your call to become a priest?
When he was in the second year of college, he took the examination and passed.
Unfortunately, his parents did not allow him to enter the seminary. They wanted
him to finish college first before entering the seminary.
Who or what inspired you to pursue becoming a priest?
There were no inspirations, but is an invitation. Later on, after accepting his calling,
his inspiration now is St. Francis of Assisi. And also, the people who are in need of
his ministry most especially the poor ones.
Did your parents/family support you with your decisions of becoming a priest?
At first, no. But as he entered, they had no choice.
Was it your first choice to become a priest? Or do you have other dreams that you
wanted to pursue aside from priesthood?
PMA or Civil Engineer
Describe the life that you had inside the seminary and today that you are now a
priest.
Seminary:
Everything is structured. You have no freedom to do what you want. You have to
follow the rules, regulations, and disciplinary actions. From the rising sun up to its
setting, you need to follow the bell. And when the bell rings, you have something
to do. It is all part of the Formation, discipline.
Priesthood: They applied the Formation that they have received during their
formative years or when they are still seminarians. Time is very important for
them, everything is scheduled there must be no idle time (lazy time). Gustohin man
nila or hindi, they need to do something. If we are sleeping, they are working.
That’s the life of a priest.
If you did not pursue becoming a priest, what or who would you be right now?
A General.
Do you ever get feel lonely? Are there some point in your life that you wish to have a
wife or children?
He wanted to have a family before entering the seminary. But all of those were
gone when he realized that he has a vocation.
What challenges or difficulties have you faced when you were still at the seminary?
Loneliness and being away from your family. They are Franciscans, they do not own
anything, they posses nothing. Everything that they receive will be given to the
community. This is one of their difficulties because they are living in poverty.
there are bullies inside the seminary
What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter a religious life or
priesthood?
To the aspiring priests and nuns, they must have serious discernment. Entering a
religious life is not a joke, it is a decision and also a calling from God. And that
calling is not what you want, but rather it is what God wants for you.
Through your journey of becoming a priest, was there something or someone who
tried to obstruct you?
Something that obstructs him is being materialistic (I want to become rich, to buys
cars, to buy houses). But since they are in a religious life, they must set aside these
things, they must leave everything behind because they believe they don’t need to
posses everything. But the solution to this is that how are you going to go beyond
all these kinds of obstructions?
In your __ years of serving our parish, what social issues or problems have you seen
in our community? What advice would you give us that can help to solve these
issues?
Nature getting destroyed and couldn’t be maintained by its residents. Because
many of which are doing sculpting to make furniture and it obviously needs woods.
Can also be a reason why we are experiencing this extremely hot climate. Also,
about manner of farming in agriculture. We use a lot of pesticides which can also
be a factor of destroying our environment and as well as for our health.
What do you think is the most important issue that Catholic education is facing right
now?
Aspect of Morality. The youth must be taught on what is right and what is moral.
Because sometimes, we forget that not everything that is right is moral, but moral
is always right. The value of education is fading away for this generation. It is
showing up that the youth today is in lacking of respect and has something off with
their attitudes. All of these happen because the most basic education that we must
really have does no longer exist, it is the so called GMRC (Good Manners and Right
Conduct).
What do you think is the biggest challenge that priests are facing nowadays?
The biggest challenge is themselves. If how are they going to handle themselves
because there are some times that they cannot determine their wants and needs.
Most of the time, they are focused on their wants instead of their needs. However,
it is really important for a priest to identify their wants and needs. When you only
live with your wants, your life has no directions at all. But when you live with your
needs, it will grant you satisfaction, contentment, and direction.
What are your thoughts about the priests around the world who are tempted by the
bodies of men & women?
This is one of the sacrifices, challenges, and difficulties of a priest. Temptation is
not bad; it has been with us ever since the time of Adam and Eve. Temptation
become bad or a sin when we allow ourselves to engage into this temptation.
Temptation is a normal human condition, the problem here is that are you going to
go with this temptation or you go away from this temptation. Are you going to face
it or are you going to abandon it. So, it is better to avoid it because when you face
it, lalo ka lang matatalo. As they say prevention is better than cure.
What can you say about our past government system, that the Catholic church is
connected with the government? Would you like to bring it back?
He is in favour of the separation of the Church and the State. Because during the
Spanish period, the friars had a really huge influence to the government, in which
has positive and negative sides (however it is more on the negative side). But even
though the Church being separated from the State, it is still continuing its prophetic
mission which is to intervene when it comes to morality and the dignity of the
humanity. To voice out and to cry out when the human rights of the people is
getting abused; the church will forever be on the side of the innocent people.