Mabuhay si Fr Oreste sa Pilipinas

September 19, 2015. The community of St. Luigi Orione Seminary in Montalban, Rizal was blessed to have the Delegate Superior of the Missionary Delegation “Mother of the Church”, Rev. Fr. Oreste Ferrari, FDP, in their regular community meeting every Saturday. The Delegate Superior arrived in the Philippines on the night of September 18, fresh from Rome. The Saint Luigi Orione Seminary gave him a warm welcome before the meeting started.

            At the invitation of Fr Stan, Fr. Oreste was the one to open this meeting by the prayer. The he discussed about the Missionary Delegations of the Sons of Divine Providence around the world: in the Philippines, India, Kenya, Jordan, United States of America, United Kingdom, Eire, and Rome. He also shared about the current census of the Congregation: the community established by Don Orione is already present in 30 countries around the world, with almost 700 members, among which 77 belong to our Delegation.

            Some seminarians asked Fr. Oreste about some information regarding the communities. In this matter, Fr. Oreste shared about the work of the Congregation established by Don Orione. “The secret of our Congregation is charity,” the Delegate Superior said. “[However] don’t do charity in order to show yourself to others. We do charity for three reasons: first, we are doing good for the people of God, and to those who are in need, like the children in Cottolengo; second, we are doing good for those people who are helping us and our community, especially the workers; and lastly, we are doing good for the Church and for the Pope.”

           

There was also a question about the General Chapter of the Congregation, to which the Delegate Superior said, “Every six years, the religious are gathered to talk about the projects and plans for the whole Congregation for the next six years. For this Chapter for example, one of the points to be discussed is about the importance of prayer. Because of loads of work, the time for prayer becomes lesser and lesser. There will be a need to emphasize the aspect of prayer.” He explained the symbols on the logo of the 14^th General Chapter with the theme, “Servants of Christ and the poor.” There is the image of Don Orione carrying the poor inside the host, with the symbol of the world at the back. The logo is interpreted as Don Orione carrying the poor back to Christ. In this same spirit, the Orionine mission will be introduced to the human race as the abstract of the world is being showed. This ecclesiastic vision manifests the goal in our charism, to bring everything in Christ- the Divine Providence.

            Then, he shared about the missionary experience that he encountered in the Philippines, together with Fr. Luigi Piccoli and two lay people, who started the mission in Payatas in Quezon City.

            The meeting ended with the seminarians serenading Fr. Oreste with the song, “Welcome to the Family” as an expression of warm welcome and thanksgiving for visiting the Philippines.

Sem. Czar Lawrenz  Ponaya, contributor