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| Vol. XX No. 99 |
December 6, 2000 |
Virac, Catanduanes |
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The Catanduanes Tribune Rawis, Virac Catanduanes, Philippines - 5001 Tel. No.: (052) 811-1267 or 811-2640 Fax No.: (052) 811-1267 E-mail:
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Publisher-Editor Edwin A. Gianan |
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Advertising- Circulation Manager Simeon G. Cueno |
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Web Master: Calgary, Canada |
Other Concerns
by the Cathedral Clergy
Prodigal sons?
It was actually more of a joke than in
appreciation of its message that I chose Rembrandt’s portrait of the
prodigal son to be the invitation logo for the diaconal ordination
tomorrow. December 7. So when someone inquired about the choice of the
picture, my ready answer was that it fits very well the person of the two
candidates to the sacred order - - Randy de Quiroz and Ring-ring
Villamartin.
Perhaps only few know that though they will
be ordained together as this year’s batch of ordinandi, they were never
contemporaries in the seminary. Randy belonged to the fourth batch of
pre-college seminaries in Cavinitan while Ring-ring was a member of the
sixth batch.
Randy spent his first two years of
philosophical studies in Legazpi with (now Fathers) Sid Sanchez, Rommel
Arcilla and me. After some crises crept into his formation journey, he
decided to leave the diocese and opted to join a religious congregation,
which enrolled him at Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Novaliches for the
philosophy degree. Not finding contentment in his religious status he
reapplied for a diocesan status, which was granted him by the Bishop in
1996. He then entered the Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga where he
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology in March 2000.
Ring-ring entered the seminary after two
years of studies at the CSC. So when he enrolled at the Mother of
Salvation Seminary in Legazpi after his precollege formation at the Fiat
House, he immediately became an irregular second year student and a
classmate of seminarians (now Fathers) Joey Tendenilla, Jesus Guinguing
and Sandy Anonuevo, (Randy had already left the diocese at that time.)
After Ring-ring’s graduation in Legazpi, he proceeded to the Holy rosary
Major Seminary for theology. After barely two months of stay in Naga,
however, he left the seminary. Later on we learned that he had joined the
Archdiocese of Manila and was taking up theology at San Carlos Seminary in
Makati. It was on his last year in San Carlos that he decided to return to
the diocese.
So both of them are virtual prodigal sons
of the diocese. And they are also the last among their respective class
members to get ordained - - hence, the motto: “to be the last . . . and
the servant of all.”
But did their being “prodigal children”
of the local church make them inferior to the rest of us? I certainly
believe it did not. As pointed out by the Lord in the wonderful parable,
the older son who never left the father’s side was as prodigal as the
younger one who squandered his father’s wealth in loose lifestyle.
With all our own personal stories tainted
with the characters of the prodigal son, therefore, no one can claim any
right to receive sacred orders. All vocation stories leading to the altar
find their origin in the forgiving and understanding hands of the loving
Father. We, priests and church ministers, are among the first many
recipients of God’s forgiving and merciful love.
That is what I discovered as I was trying to come up with a more
appropriate reason for my choice of Rembrandt’s portrait – the
prodigal son parable serves as the main line of God’s love story for
mankind. Of how God loves us. We, humans, can cease to be children of god.
But God cannot cease to be our Father. God is infinitely Father,
indefinitely our Father. The story of the prodigal son is, in all reality,
the story of the loving Father.
