Happy Birthday Moonvale

nano na padi?

Happy Birthday Jason!

diin an sibog padi? :-)




Click here to send Jason a birthday card! his email addy is jacebalbedina @yahoo.c om

Junie's February 9 B-Day Celebration

We had a wonderful birthday celebration on February 9, 2006 at our residence. Thanks to everyone.
First to arrive was Fr. Peewee (in the company of two angels). He showed up at 3:00 pm to pick us up for a visit to Chinabank in Sorsogon City to withdraw the money for the fabrication of one stained glass. After the withdrawal, we dropped by the Bulwagang Pangkatarungan to personally invite Dante who seemed to have forgotten to respond to our text messages. He promised to join us after office hours.

We then proceeded home for Merienda.

Fr. Peewee left around 5 pm for a 6-pm mass in Bulan.
Around 30 minutes after Fr. Peewee had left, Henri's group arrived. He also had two angels with him. (At this point, my father wondered to my mom why my classmates seemed to be coming in the company of two girls/women each! For my part, i was already getting excited for the arrival of Dante. How many are coming with him? Ha ha ha.) After the meal, Henri's companions left.



Before 7 pm, Erwin, Dave and Rene arrived and were dismayed to know that Fr. Peewee had not waited for them to arrive. Madayaon kuno an Padi. Anyway, even without Fr. Peewee and Dante (who texted that he could no longer join us to attend to his ailing father) we had great fun.

Makangangalas ini na mga kaklase ta. Habo mag-irinum. Sige mi lang an iristoryahan. At 10 pm, we called it a "birth"day and they left.

Happy Birthday Gabby!

padi naghu
hulat-hulat lang kami san handa mo :-)

Click here to send Gabby a birthday card! his email addy is g lagamayo@yahoo.co m

Happy Birthday Mervs!

Anong handa mo mervs?



Click here to send Mervs a birthday card! his email addy is m ervin.hael@rrd.co m

Happy Birthday Junie!

happy birthday junie! kelan an irinuman?


Click here to send Junie a birthday card! his email addy is fauscon@yahoo.com

FR. PEEWEE'S 8TH ORDINATION ANNIVERSARY, FEBRUARY 5, 2006

Last Wednesday I texted Fr. Peewee to tell him about our batch's donation for the renovation of the church in Butag not knowing that in a few days' time he'd be celebrating his 8th ordination anniversary. In his response, he included an invitation for our class to visit him on this anniversary. So i started texting our classmates who are based in Sorsogon. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't make it, except for Dave who also backed out at the eleventh hour to attend to his "expectant sow".

Fortunately, Henri showed up in our house in the morning of February 5 so i dragged him along to Butag. When we reached Butag around 1:30 pm, Fr. Peewee and his family (sira Sir Ipe tabi nan Ma'm Reno. Lain asawa nan batit ni Fr. Peewee. He he he.) had already left for San Benon.

But Henri and I were pleasantly surprised to see how big the improvement has been in the renovation of the church since our visit in October 2005. See for yourselves in the pictures below. Matibayon an kaklase ta. Makaskason an trabaho sa simbahan.

Kudos to Fr. Peewee!



































Our donation will be installed on one of the side windows.










Naglanat kami sa San Benon.
Pag-abot mi, hinakbot tulos ni Henri an Sweet and Sour na isda.













Still very strong and healthy si Ma'm Reno.

Happy Birthday Cando!

padi, diin an irinuman ta?

Kitakits sa Sunday - Jan 22

mga padi, pwede kamo sa isang dinner meeting sa sunday, jan. 22? star of the show si moonvale, our long lost batchmate. wala pa venue so if u have suggestions pls. text rino.

agenda will be post xmas and new year celebrations, 2006 calendar of acitivities and 20th anniversary summer outing

Tyrone will fly down from cebu for this "special" occasion. Also specal request daw po pala for the following; Yayes, Franz, Moonvale, BJ, Dino, Mervs and the Bikol delegation.

pls. textback to rino for confirmation

Music goodness from a guitar god

jerry c is definitely my guitar god. i'm just completely amazed by his guitar playing skills. mad skillz man!!!! talagang my jaw drops seeing and hearing him play. i love his electric rock version of Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. hanep sa alright talaga!!! nakakaalis lungkot hehehe :-)



also check out his wedding in the dream and rock on

Fun stuff

its been boring here lately. heto pampasaya - two chinese college students having fun with the backstreet boys

btw, this plays better if you are on fast internet connection- dsl or cable.




MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Jet in Hongkong

at the hongkong disneyland. we got in free by the way courtesy of a filipino friend ;-) there's lots of pinoy workers there. we werent able to explore the whole park coz there were so many people - from mainland china and the Philippine SEA Games gold medalist were there too - with mike arroyo no less and - there were so many things to do

we dont like rides so we catched the shows and the favo hands down was the philharmonic show - a kind of 3d animation show where not only can you see the movie in 3d with surround sound, you can actually smell the food shown on the screen and they even had water spraying us when during a water splashing scene as in real water that got us a bit wet. it was just simply amazing.
















me during one of the anti-wto rally. it was actually festive and peaceful. far from the violent or rowdy event bannered by the hysterical media. it was i think boring for the media so they had to hyped things up a bit. Hongkong people were nice and tolerant and also the police. one of the famous chants during the rallies was in fact "we love hongkong, we love hongkong police" . the police were really nice and helpful it was a bit unnerving
















see the shirt? maelstrom ina :p at the hongkong airport going home.

kinder junie and vic

hanep an japorms san duwa didi na taga-gubat. mga angelito ano :D

pix courtesy of sano ronny y. (b85)

MAELSTROM

BY YAYES BASARES

We were 29 when we entered OLPS way back in 1982 – about a thousand hairs ago. Only one became a priest. Some left early, others almost made it. Some (may) have shed tears, for others a feeling of frustration, still others resignation.

I left early and carried the mark of an ex-seminarian like a stigma attached to an identity of failure. I tried, in vain, to go back. Truth to tell, every single soul who entered the portals of OLPS and stayed there for at least a year carried with him in his heart the burning desire of becoming a priest. I am no exception.

Nothing outside could offer the same feeling of joy and happiness OLPS did. There was always a void space inside, an empty feeling. Joy and happiness inside OLPS was joy and happiness rooted in faith. It was this joy and happiness from where MAELSTROM was born.

Now in the midst of my agony of dwindling hairs and early manifestation of memory gap (Jesus H. Christ) I could no longer recall the names of all the girls I have loved before (hehehe) nor the names and faces of all my classmates in high school and college, but MAELSTROM remains embedded.

For MAELSTROM is special. It speaks of bonding in diversity; of respect and concern, of friendship between distance; of family through ages.

I am proud I am MAELSTROM. I am proud I am SANO.

I told my son, “when you finish your elementary please enter OLPS. By that time you need not call me daddy, call me SANO.”

My son smiles back. As always in his most mischievous manner. God help me!

Happy Birthday Tivo!

padi, san-o ulit an karaon ta sa balay mo? :-)

Happy Bday!

Pix from Collins

mga padi! collins has uploaded new pix via flickr today! galing ni collins nafigure out kaagad yung flckr :D

lots of pix, some are private which u can only view by logging in using our pass :-)

here's the pix of that cool beach resort in butag. going up the parking lot.




a lovely landscape shot by collins. bulusan volcano maybe?

De Sacerdotalis Caelibatus

by Kit Gacias
(Diary Entry: 02-14-93)

“Do I regret that I have never been married? Do I miss having children and grandchildren? Is there something absent in my life because there has never been a relationship of long term sexual passion with a woman? The answer to those questions is yes.”
Fr. Andrew M. Greeley, in “Confessions of a Parish Priest”

I have just received a Valentine card from a lady and it was really touching. I really had a very pleasant time reading and re-reading her message. Some words which she had written started to bother me, however. May I quote the words thus:

“By Jove, are you really going to become a priest? You are so sweet and thoughtful – traits that are better found not among ordained ministers but among future husbands. For your sweetness and thoughtfulness are just as spontaneous as the flowing rivers and oftentimes your thoughts are just as immeasurable as the deepest sea. I know you could be a greater lover than a priest. And it is no wonder at all that you’ve made a special place for yourself deep in my heart.”

Very flattering words, they indeed are. Especially made tempting since they come from a very beautiful lady. But that someone would remark that I am better as a lover than as a seminarian – or as a future priest really disturbs me a whole lot. While I admit that I am indeed flattered – and really tempted - with the remark, it nonetheless bothers me more. It offers me something to reflect on. I ask myself, why can’t I be both, a priest and a lover – especially in the emotional and physical sense - at the same time? Sayang, I could have enjoyed life more, couldn’t I?

This may sound apologetic but the question seeks a scape-goat, something which it can lay the blame upon, something whose very nature could offer a possible answer or at least simulate one convincing explanation. And obviously, it all redounds to the issue of celibacy – that priests are not allowed to marry and concurrently, that seminarians – those who contemplate of becoming priests – should not indulge in premarital relationships.

Albeit I have considerably studied the subject in the seminary, and albeit I have already consigned myself to the prevailing and accepted contention that it is an essential element of priestly discipline, still I cannot but entertain some questions that pertain to its nature, effects and relevance. Somehow, I cannot but ask myself, is the priest, by professing the vow of celibacy and by being entrapped by the clerical environment, also being put in the wrong place and is excluded from normal life, something like a square peg in a round hole? Is he deprived, bypassed and denied of one basic need and luxury of humanity? Does he outrightly reject his humanity or his masculinity for that matter by professing the vow of celibacy? Or does celibacy produce a good effect in him after all? And finally, what really is celibacy and why should it be demanded of priests?

Nominally, the word celibacy came from the Latin “coelebs” which means “single” or “alone.” Strictly speaking, however, this word applies to everyone who has not contracted matrimony regardless of his motivations. The Italians for instance, call “celibe” a man who is not married.

However, the practice of celibacy, strictly speaking, implies religious motivation. In this case, the word “celibacy” may be qualified with the adjectives “ecclesiastical,” “clerical,” or “priestly.”

Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical “Sacerdotalis Caelibatus” defines priestly celibacy as “the voluntary renunciation of the natural and lawful desire of man to love a woman and to raise a family for the sake of the kingdom of God.” In this light, the celibate ordained minister not only is and remains unmarried but also endeavors to forego all directly willful indulgence in the pleasures of genital sex, whether with others or alone.

The practice of celibacy can be seen already existing among the sacred ministers in Christian antiquity. Tertullian, Ephiphanius, Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem and many others can be cited as witnesses to the fact that innumerable clerics have remained unmarried for the Lord’s sake. From a biblical perspective, the New Testament foundations for celibacy as a Christian way of life can be gleaned from the example of St. Paul. Christ, accordingly, also did not marry.

But all of these are still highly debatable. To date, for example, no one could still authoritatively dispute the possibility that Christ had a woman, or more far out, even had children. On a biblical basis, the Church calls St. Paul to the defense of celibacy but she does not explain what the Saint meant in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Concerning celibacy, I have no commandment of the Lord.” Or, in that same letter: “Do we not have the right to marry a believing woman like the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” Or in his first letter to Timothy: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife… one that rules his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.”

At the most, there is only one biblical passage that is brought forward in defense of clerical celibacy. It is the text of Matthew 19:10: “If that is the case between man and wife, it is better not to marry. Jesus replies: Not everyone can accept this teaching, only those to whom it is given to do so. Some men are incapable of sexual activity from birth; some there are who have freely renounced sex for the sake of God’s reign.”

But even so, it can still be argued that while Christ and St. Paul might have regarded celibacy as superior and thus embraced that life-style, still nowhere in the Scriptures did Christ or St. Paul demand celibacy of anyone. And of course no one will find in it any mention of recent studies that claim that St. Paul, unlike the other apostles, vouched for celibacy and remained unmarried because he might have been suffering from sexual impotence.

For our discussions here, I would like to point out that based on present ecclesiastical setup, there are two forms of clerical celibacy. The first is clerical celibacy as an option. Here, celibacy is freely chosen and freely accepted particularly for the love of God. This we may see in the lives of Mother Theresa, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio, Pope John XXIII and St. Theresa of Avila. This form of celibacy is the true celibacy for it is a gift and gifts are not always given to everyone. The text of Matthew 19:10 is very clear: “Only those to whom it is given…”

The second form of clerical celibacy is the compulsory celibacy. Here, celibacy is not a gift but a mere form of discipline, something which is imposed by a system or a superior order. This form is introduced and developed by the Church throughout its history. And this form of celibacy is, I believe although I am quite afraid to accept it, the kind of celibacy that most of our priests now seek to profess.

As we may see, the distinction offered above is very important for our understanding of the subject not only because it is thought of before that there was only one form of celibacy, but more importantly, because the two were often confused and muddled. I believe, for instance, that in the text of Matthew 19:10, Jesus was only referring to the first form of celibacy (for there was only one form then), that is, celibacy as an option and gift, although it will be seen that the Church would later use it to address also the second form of celibacy, that is, celibacy as a compulsory discipline. In other words, what Christ has excluded, the Church later on included.

Of course, as already mentioned, in the beginning, there was only one form of celibacy, that is, celibacy as an option and gift. It is said that the communal practice of celibacy entered Christianity via monasticism. It appears that the first attempts to legislate celibacy on the clergy may be traced back to the practice of instituting common life among ordained ministers on a more or less monastic pattern. However, according to Edward Schileebeeckx in his book “The Church with a Human Face,” celibacy originated in a partly pagan notion of ritual purity. Accordingly, in the fourth century, a law forbade a married priest from having sexual intercourse the night before celebrating the Eucharist. When the Western Church began to celebrate the Eucharist daily, this abstinence became a permanent condition for married priests. And a priest was obliged to live with his wife as if she were a sister, which became more and more intolerable. Finally, in 1123 at the first Lateran Council, the Church forbade altogether the marriage of priests and declared such marriages null and void. It is the first recorded ecumenical council to require celibacy of all the clergy. Thus, enters the second form of celibacy, i.e., as a compulsory form of discipline.

It is noteworthy however, that the first recorded case of a law on celibacy occurs in the Synod of Elvira in Spain (c. 306). Likewise, while the Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 did not impose celibacy on all priests, it nonetheless forbade marriage after diaconate.

A different but parallel and equally convincing account on the origin of compulsory celibacy as imposed by the Church is likewise raised by Sidney Ehler in his book “Twenty Centuries of Church and State” wherein he states that celibacy was imposed in the eleventh century during the ascendancy of the Church in the feudal society. Accordingly, the feudalization of the Church involved the selling of benefices to the highest bidder by the patrons of various churches. Since there was a tendency to make the church benefices hereditary because a great number of the clergy were married and had children quite openly, clerical marriage became the root cause of such evil. Reformers formed in Rome, headed by Cardinal Hildebrand. Their principal aim was the dematerialization of the Church, concentrating on stamping out the two greatest evils: clerical marriage and simony. Then, in 1073, Hildebrand was elected pope under the name of Pope Gregory VII. And that was the beginning of the Gregorian Reformation, considered as one of the most glorious chapters in the history of Christianity.

Parenthetically, it is highly significant that throughout these centuries of canonical legislation on clerical celibacy, the popes of succeeding generations promoted, defended and restored ecclesiastical celibacy even when they met opposition from the clergy itself. As A.M. Stickler observes in his book “Priesthood and Celibacy,” “it was solely the Roman primacy that succeeded in regaining full observance of the ancient discipline as a rule of life (p. 550).”

Now, in the foregoing discussions on the historical development of clerical celibacy, it may be noted that the Church’s canonical legislations on the subject were concerned merely with the second form of clerical celibacy – celibacy as a compulsory discipline. It willfully neglects to acknowledge the first form, that is, celibacy as a free option and gift.

It is with such a history that, no longer at ease in the old dispensation, thousands upon thousands of priests are now rising and walking out of the ministry. The records say it all: more than thirty thousand priests have walked out of the priesthood since 1975! If all priests in earlier centuries could marry, why can’t they now? Isn’t it that celibacy from the very beginning was merely optional and never compulsory? Isn’t it that Christ Himself merely referred to celibacy as a gift and hence, optional rather than a compulsory discipline?

And they’re there, and they’ll wait it out, pushing every system and every person concerned to change the whole thing.

As for me, I am convinced that priests should be given the freedom to choose. Two options are clear: Celibacy as a free option and gift and celibacy as a compulsory discipline.

Dear Reverend Father: Which one would ye choose?

Postscript: “I made the vow of chastity, but did nothing to remove the strength of desire, to which I have succumbed in passing fashion.” – Abbe Pierre, 93-year-old Roman Catholic priest and one of France’s most revered public figures, suggesting he has had sex, in a book excerpted last week.

- from Time, November 7, 2005 issue, page 9.


Sources
1. Msgr. Antonio Rañola, DD, “Priestly Celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church,” Boletin Ecclesiastico de Filipinas, ed. by Vicente G. Cajilig, OP, Manila: Santo Tomas University Press, Vol. LXVI, nos. 728-729, July-august 1990, pp. 395-400.
2. A.M. Stickler, Priesthood and Celibacy.
3. ______________, Valentine Card, 4 February 1993.

nano daw ini

bagan super engrossed an mga tawo didi a. hehehe 

da holy men!

hehehe, rino, dante, jason and tyrone looking good and saintly with the big boss, Bishop Arturo Bastes