A SHEPHERD’S VISIT | At around 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 15, 2024, the San Agustin Center of Studies (SACS) Community welcomed the local ordinary of the Diocese of Cubao, Most Rev. Honesto Ongtioco, DD. The beloved bishop of Cubao visited the Augustinian community of SACS as part of his ongoing Pastoral and Fraternal Visitation to the diocese’s religious houses and communities. SACS has been the 98th religious community visited by the bishop along with the members of the diocesan office of the Vicar General for the Religious.
Bishop Honesto was received by the Prior of the House Rev. Fr. Edgardo L. Lazo, OSA, and Fray Jose Lopez, OSA, Sub-Prior, and some of the Augustinian Solemnly and Simply professed friars. A simple rite of reception, prayer, and exhortation took place at the Oratory of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Hall-Professorium and the community dialogue continued at the Colloquium Patricii/Conference Hall. Bishop Ongtioco dubbed his encounter with the Augustinians as “kumustahan” so that a deeper familiarization with the community may root in deeply between the religious presence and the diocesan leadership. The good bishop touched on this “kumustahan” the effects of COVID-19 health crisis on the community. He also asked about the situation of the formation, the community’s extent of helping the Diocese, and the need to familiarize the religious priests with the practice of the diocese in terms of updating information and participation in diocesan activities. Gladly, the Augustinians keep a good standing in the Diocese and in the local parish community of Mt. Carmel, which the bishop noted and praised. The Augustinian friars help in the Sunday celebration of Masses of the parish in some barangay chapels such as the Kapilya ng Pagkabuhay and Our Lady of Hope Chapel Kapitbisig, Central Avenue, Culiat, Quezon City.
The dialogue with Bishop Honesto was capped with a short tour around the building and meeting some seminarians in the community. Before lunch, the visitation ended with a sharing of a simple banquet at the Friars’ Hall.
The Diocese of Cubao holds the distinction as the diocese in the Philippines with the most number of religious houses, numbering about 140 Religious Orders and Congregations. (from SACS Mass Media Center Facebook Page)
Photos by Fr. Rommel Par, OSA
