Updates

SD CIRCLE

The Ignatian Spiritual Direction and Retreat Giving Course opened last August 14 and ended last December 11, 2004. The sessions were held every other Saturday of the month, starts at 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It was held at the 2nd floor of CLC Center, Ateneo Campus, Quezon City.

There were 33 enrollees. 6 laymen, 18 laywomen, 7 religious sisters and 2 priests. Those who completed all the sessions were: 2 laymen, 5 laywomen, and a religious sister. Those who were not able to attend all the sessions will be allowed to complete by attending the session/s corresponding to what they missed, in Module 2 of the summer program.

Resource persons:

Fr. Victor Baltazar, SJ, Fr. Roy Cosca, SJ, Fr. Arnie Bugtas, SJ, Fr. Ramon Bautista, SJ, Fr. Michael Mohally, MSC, Eva Galvey, Oyet Bustamante, Teresa Nietes and Mr. Monchito Mossessgeld.

Course Content:

Nature of Spiritual Direction, Ignatius on Spiritual Direction, Basic Helper Skills, Ethical Considerations in the Ministry, and Supervision of Spiritual Directors.

ATENEO CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITIES

Last October 16-22, the Ateneo Christian Life Community had their annual retreat at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches. There were around 70 Ateneo students who participated in the retreat. Jesuit scholastics, lay volunteers and a religious sister directed the young students. Fr. Victor Baltazar, SJ and Ms. Daisy Santos accompanied the scholastics through supervision. Ms. Mila Santillan and Rev. Rodel Paulino, both CIS volunteer spiritual guides also generously accompanied the retreatants.

BATANGAS CATHECHISTS

Ms. Eva Galvey and Ms. Daisy Santos gave a 5-day retreat to 10 participants from Batangas City from October 4 to 8, 2004 at Sacred Heart Novitiate. They are teachers of Catechism to grade school and high school students. It was the first time that this group of teachers had a directed annual retreat and, initially, found it difficult to maintain silence that is proper to individually guided retreats. In the end, they were very grateful for the new experience.

IGNATIUS MEETS FRANCISCANS: OFMCONV. JUNIORS UNDERGO 5-DAY IGNATIAN RETREAT

Last October 18-22, 2004, 21 simple professed OFM Conventuals underwent a 5-day individually guided Ignatian Retreat. It was the first time that the congregation ventured into a different form of retreat for its Juniors. The retreat was held at the Queen of Peace Benedictine Priory of the Benedictine Sisters of the Eucharistic King in Damortis, Rosario, La Union. Jesuit scholastics Jomari Manzano, Michael Porcia, and Irmo Valeza served as directors and facilitators. The friars who usually undergo a preached type of retreat said that the new experience proved very enriching and memorable in their formation. Prior to the retreat Sch. Jomari Manzano, SJ gave a short orientation to the Spiritual Exercises at their seminary in Paranaque.

IGNATIAN STUDY CIRCLE

Ignatian Study Circle has been a program of CIS for nine years now. The activity started last July 17, 2004 and ended on March 6, 2005. This year’s group of retreat directors consisted of Jesuit priests, religious and lay. They met regularly to discuss recently published materials about Ignatian spiritual direction and retreat giving. They studied the book Finding God in All Things by William Barry, SJ.

EAPI WAY OF LIFE SERIES

CIS Phil as a resource center and an active partner in the spiritual formation gave a series of talks on Ignatian Spirituality for students of East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI). The pool of resource speakers included Frs. Joe Quilong-quilong, SJ, Roy Cosca, SJ, Vic Baltazar, SJ, and Ms. Eva Galvey. The program was designed to be a part of the animation program for students enrolled in the institute. The series ran during the first semester of school year 2004-2005. Every other Monday, a CIS resource person gives a 45 minute talk and reflection points to the participants. The other alternating Mondays of the semester were set aside for the purpose of group sharing.