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Newsletter of the District of Asia Jan - June 2004 Chronicle
of the District of Asia
13 - 18 Singapore: Men's retreat in Malacca 26 South East Asia: A 9.3 intensity (on the Richter scale) earthquake, the second krgest in the history of recorded earthquakes, provoked the worst natural disaster in the history, about 300,000 deaths. Fr. Davide Pagliarani was celebrating the Holy Mass in our chapel in Negombo, Sri Lanka when the waves finally reached the nearby coast. Thank God, neither our chapels, nor any of our regular faithful either in Sri Lanka or nearby Tamil Nadu suffered human losses. 28 Sri Lanka: The relief work began with food distribution to some 20 families and will continue such food distribution for another two months). Besides this, fishing equipment, household supplies, will be the priorities. At a larger scale, in India, we will help with the setting-up of a small fiberglass fishing boat factory, and in Sri Lanka, with the purchase of a property for the 129 families (600 people) of the Refugee Camp of Negombo
3-8 India Fr. Pagliarani flew to India for the first time to preach the priests' annual retreat. His theme was a priestly application, according to the mystical interpretation of Scripture (as the Fathers of the Church often did) of the history of Patriarch Joseph. An eye-opener even for the veteran priests, including an eighty-year-old ex-Jesuit. Fr. Couture joined the retreat at the end to have an opportunity to meet the priests. 11-14 Singapore Short visit of Fr. Paul Morgan, District Superior of England and first superior of the Philippines (1992 -1996) 10-13 India Frs. Pagliarani and Couture went to visit an Orphanage, "Nav Jeevan", in Cuddapah, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in central India. The foundress of this four-year-old Orphanage/Old People's Home, Miss Swarna Vongala, wanted to have the traditional Mass for her nearly 100 people. She has manifested a strong inclination for Catholic Tradition. The two priests gave her and her companion a short recollection on the spiritual life.
Nav Jeevan Orphanage, in Cuddapah, India
Miss Swarna Vongala leading the morning prayers with her orphans
26-31 Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur A few days of rest for Fr. Morgan, on his way back to England after preaching the priests' retreat in Australia.
3 Singapore Fr. Adrian Wee, 'our' Carmelite priest, went to England to preach a retreat to the members of the Carmelite Third Order, and to visit afterwards the Carmelite Sisters of Quievrain, in Belgium. These Sisters, founded in the late 1970's by the very Sister of Archbishop Lefebvre, Mother Marie Christiane, had been praying for a Carmelite priest ever since! Now, one was coming to them... at last!
Fr. Adrian Wee, Discalced Carmelite
17 Japan/Korea Fr. Pagliarani accompanied Fr. Thomas Onoda in his monthly apostolate, discovering the hardships and the fruits of these missions which Fr. Onoda has been handling, practically alone, for more than 11 years. It sure is an experience to meet the grand- and great grand-children of martyrs as one can do when visiting South Korea. 28 - March 5 Singapore: Women's retreat in nearby Batam, an Indonesian Island. The retreat venue this time was a... golf club!
7-11 Philippines, Manila Priests' Annual Doctrinal Session. The key speaker this year was Dr. Peter Chojnowski, a specialist in St Augustine. In 8 hours of magistral lectures, he gave the 11 fathers present a wonderful commentary on the first part of the Confessions of St Augustine. Other talks included the question of the doubtful validity of the Chinese Patriotic Church's Episcopal consecrations, two talks on Carmelite spiritual direction, one on liturgical matters, and one on the training of brothers. A four-star meal crowned the Session and guaranteed the participation of the priests for future sessions! 8 Philippines, Manila After a day of fasting and an all-night adoration, a procession was organized to ask God's intervention to stop Bill 3773 from being approved by Congress. This Bill, if passed, will open wide the flood-gates of immorality with the approval of sex education in the schools, of a two-child family policy, of contraception for the youth, etc... 12 Philippines, Manila An official letter is faxed to all the Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of the Philippines urging them to be firm in opposing Bill 3773. 12-15 Hong Kong After the Session, Fr. Couture went to Hong Kong to inspect the Mass Center and to put his hands on a real treasure: a stock of wonderful 'pop-up catechisms', rotting away in a storage room. Ideal for home-schooling and the teaching of catechism to small groups. The complete set, originally available in 5 languages, comprises 17 volumes, but some volumes are totally out of stock in one or the other language. Any one interested may contact the District Office in Singapore. Real collectors' items. To help the Asian Missions!
Pop-up Catechisms found in Hong Kong
22 Singapore Fr. Adrian came back from his retreat and encounter with the Sisters, who, as was to be expected, were most happy to literally harness him for their communities, which would take place about a month later. 27 - April 13 India The District Superior returned to India to provide Mass on Easter Sunday for the faithful in Madras (where our Mass center is 100 yards away from the place where the Apostle St Thomas lived!) and to visit again the Orphanage of Cuddapah.
2 Rome: Death of the Holy Father. R.I.P. Singapore: Brother Roman, OSB, who had been waiting for his French visa for 6 months, finally was able to return to his nest, the Benedictine Monastery of Bellaigue in France. 3 Singapore Fr. Adrian took off for Belgium to put himself at the disposal of the dear Carmelite Sisters (who do pray a lot for our Asian Missions), and to be available for an eventual revival of the Carmelite Fathers. 9
Rome Funeral of the Holy Father. It is interesting to know that
St Malachy's prophecy concerning this Pope was " De Lahore
Soils" which can be translated either by "The Labor of
the Sun" or by "The Eclipse of the Sun". The most
obvious explanation of this, as Archbishop Lefebvre pointed out
in June 1988, is that the Church, the true sun of the world, is
living an eclipse today. But there is an additional meaning to this
prophecy: both on the day of the birth and on the very day of the
funeral of this Pope there were solar eclipses! 15-16 Singapore Short visit of our Superior General on his way to Australia.
The great work of the Church in Philippines |
