Bulletin News - August 06

September was a busy month for us and so was the beginning of October. After closing the deal to purchase our house, we began to make plans for some renovations and furnishings. A little landscaping had been done, so we hired someone to make the garden beautiful but at the same time “low maintenance.” We added a lovely gazebo to the plan so that we could enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Tagaytay.

It was no small task to furnish an entire house. Since it was completely empty, we had a lot of shopping to do. I spent one full day in Manila with three “professional shoppers” buying most of the furniture and appliances. These three were Sr. Becky (of the Good Shepherd Sisters at Maryridge) and her two sisters, Lilian and Babes. Lilian is the one who designed and oversaw our garden renovation. Babes is an interior decorator. These three ladies enabled us to get high quality furniture at a very reasonable cost by going to a shop that sells directly to interior decorators. In addition to a house full of furniture, we also went to the shopping mall and bought a refrigerator, stove, clothes washer, microwave, television, DVD player, rice cooker, iron, and various other items.

In addition, Sr. Becky and Lilian spent another full day in Manila purchasing towels, bed linen, dishes, pans, paintings, mirrors, and all the other numerous things that help make a house a home. Needless to say, we are deeply indebted to the kindness and generosity of these women. They gave a huge amount of their time and loving concern to help us get settled. You can see some of the furniture in the pictures of the house blessing.

We moved into our new house on September 17. That was just in time to welcome Fr. Pierre Marchand who arrived on September 21. Fr. Amadeo and I met him at the airport, welcomed him to the Philippines (Mabuhay sa Pilipinas!), and brought him to his new home. Since then he has begun to adjust to a new culture, new language, and new way of life. He is speaking English quite well and getting plenty of opportunities to practice. He is already talking about eventually learning Tagalog.

We continue to minister to the seminarians in Tagaytay and Imus. We give them their monthly day of recollection and offer spiritual direction. We say Mass every day for the Good Shepherd Sisters at Maryridge. During the month of September, there is a month-long renewal for Good Shepherd Sisters from the Asia-Pacific area. So we are meeting Good Shepherd Sisters from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, as well as every part of the Philippines. The program ended on September 30. Earlier in the month, Fr. Amadeo and I gave them some conferences on compassion, mercy and their fourth vow of zeal in the writings of St. John Eudes.

The other big event in September was typhoon Milenyo. It was the biggest typhoon to hit Luzon since 1995. Fortunately, our new house proved to be quite strong and we sustained no damage. We were without electricity and water for six days, but that was a minor inconvenience compared to the destruction some areas suffered. There was a lot of property damage and over 200 people died as a result of the storm.

On October 13, we celebrated our house blessing. The custom in the Philippines is to have your house blessed shortly after you move in. Bishop Chito offered the Mass and then blessed our house. The seminarians from Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol served as the choir, and seminarians from Our Lady of the Pillar and PIME also attended, along with the Good Shepherd Sisters from around Metro Manila. The Little Sisters of the Poor joined, as well as the Ursuline Sisters and Missionaries of Charity. Other friends and our new neighbors are also attended. We had about 125 crowded in our house for the Mass. We had intended to have the Mass outdoors, but a torrential downpour about two hours before the guests arrived made the yard too muddy. (See the attached pictures).

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. As you might imagine, buying a house and furnishing it has been a tremendous expense. So many of you have contributed to this project and we thank you. We are off to a good start.

We enjoy receiving your responses. Feel free to respond to this address or directly to Amadeo or Pierre.

Peace,

Ron Bagley, CJM