Posts Tagged ‘Ateneo Latin Mass Society’
ALMS: Latin Mass on 17 Jan 2013, 6 pm at Ateneo de Manila University
Latin Mass on 17 Jan 2013, Thursday, 6 pm, at the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Loyola House of Studies, Ateneo de Manila University
Why I signed the petition, “Re-claim the Catholic Identity of Ateneo de Manila”
Dear ALMS members who are faculty, staff, students, or alumni of Ateneo de Manila University:
I signed the petition (Re-claim the Catholic Identity of Ateneo de Manila written by Ricardo B. Boncan on Aug 18) in response to the 160 Pro-RH Ateneo professors who signed the petition in support of the RH Bill, in defiance of the Catholic Church teaching on contraception. I hope you and your other Atenean friends will also sign below. This is now a battle of the Two Standards. We need to reclaim the Catholic identity of our beloved university. Fidelity to Mary is fidelity to the Catholic Church. It cannot be otherwise.
“Mary for you! For your white and blue! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, constantly true! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, faithful to you!
“Down from the hill, down to the world go I; rememb’ring still, how the bright Blue Eagles fly. Through joys and tears, through the laughing years, we sing our battle song: Win or lose, it’s the school we choose; this is the place where we belong!
“Mary for you! For your white and blue! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, constantly true! We pray you’ll keep us, Mary, faithful to you!
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Quirino Sugon Jr.
Coordinator
Ateneo Latin Mass Society
Prayer Rally on Aug 4 at EDSA against RH Bill: What would St. Ignatius do?
From Ateneo Latin Mass Society
Prayer Power Rally against RH Bill on Saturday, Aug 4, 2012
Dear ALMS members and friends,
The Catholic Church hierarchy has called us to join the Prayer Power Rally at EDSA Shrine on Aug. 4 against the RH Bill. Some of us may still be undecided regarding the RH Bill. But as faithful sons of St. Ignatius, it may be worth pondering on his Rules for Thinking, Judging, and Feeling with the Churchas stated in his Spiritual Exercises:
Rule 1. With all judgment of our own put aside, we ought to keep our minds disposed and ready to be obedient in everything to the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church.
Rule 13. To keep ourselves right in all things, we ought to hold fast to this principle: What I see as white, I will believe to be black if the hierarchical Church thus determines it. For we believe that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, his Spouse, there is the one same Spirit who governs and guides us for the salvation of our souls. For it is by the same Spirit and Lord of ours who gave the ten commandments that our holy Mother Church is guided and governed.
In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius asks us to meditate on the Two Standards. Now before us are two standards: the Standard of Christ and of His Church against the RH Bill and the Standard of the Pro-RH groups. The battle lines are clear. There is no middle ground. To waver is to fall. Let us join the standard of Christ and of His Church.
This is a historic moment.
Across the Pacific in US, Obamacare is currently being implemented, which requires to institutions to include contraception coverage to their employees. Those who don’t get health insurance coverage will be penalized with tax. The Catholic Church is against this law because Catholics cannot promote contraception. Though the Catholic Church itself is exempted, Catholic schools, hospitals, and charities are not. Business run by faithful Catholics have to fight their way in court to be granted exemption. Hercules Industries won the fight vs. Obamacare. And there are still other business and institutions who have to fight their own battles. The US Bishops have been divided on so many issues, but not this one: they are all against the Obamacare.
And the same story is replayed in the Philippines. The Philippine president and some lawmakers wishes to promote the Reproductive Health Bill which would require government to buy contraceptives and give it freely, so that we can lower our population, which the government thinks is the reason why we are poor. The bishops are against this bill because it would make Filipino Catholics accomplice to the sin, because the government will use taxes to buy these contraceptives. The Catholic Church promotes Natural Family Planning which respects the reproductive cycles of the woman’s body. Contraceptives only makes a woman’s body a tool to be used for the sexual gratification of the man, and the proliferation of contraceptives will promote fornication and adultery to the destruction of the Filipino family. Pope Paul VI, in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae, have prophesied all these long before in 1968:
Consequences of Artificial Methods
17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection. Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
The Reproductive Health Bill is supported and funded by international groups: Planned Parenthood (the world’s largest abortion provider), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Marie Stopes International, the Packard Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As St. Paul says,
“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”
All these groups seek to depopulate the Philippines and make it another wasteland like Europe whose birthrates have plummeted close to one child per woman, resulting to a graying work force that drains the government’s coffers due to more pension costs and lesser sources of taxable incomes. If this cultural suicide of not having babies does not end, Western Europe as we know it would soon be gone. And if US also falls, the West would plunge to a new Dark Age of Faith, and the Philippines would become the last bastion of Judaeo-Graeco-Roman Civilization. Let us defeat the RH Bill once and for all–a defeat so definitive that none can foresee its arising ever again. This may be our last stand before Congress decides to terminate the debates on August 7 and decide the fate of the Philippines. As Aragorn said before the march of the Western armies to the Black Gates of Sauron:
If this be jest, then it is too bitter for laughter. Nay, it is the last move in a great jeopardy, and for one side or the other it will bring the end of the game. (The Return of the King, p. 164)
Tomorrow, August 4, is a First Saturday, a day of battle which we shall dedicate to Our Lady. She is The Woman Clothed with the Sun who accomplished the bloodless revolution in EDSA in 1986. She is The Woman Who Crushed the Head of the Serpent who destroyed the Berlin Wall in 1991. And tomorrow, She will be known once again as Our Lady of EDSA–Our Lady of the Epiphany of the Saints:
Who is this that comes forth like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops? (Song of Songs 6:10)
So tomorrow, August 4, please come to EDSA and bring your rosaries. As Our Lady said to St. Dominic whose feast we celebrate tomorrow:
Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?… I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter. (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary, p. 21)
Our Lady’s Psalter is the Hail Mary. And a string of Hail Mary’s is the Holy Rosary:
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
I hope to see you there at EDSA tomorrow afternoon. We can meet at 12:00-1:00 p.m. at Loyola House of Studies and join the Loyola School of Theology delegationconsisting of Jesuit priests, brothers, and lay people. Wear red for martyrdom. Those who wish to join the convoy are asked to bring their cars. Those who wish to join me–we’ll take the train If there are only few who will come and EDSA is not filled to the brim, let us fear not but bravely stand and weather the storm. As Aragorn said:
Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.
For this is not just our war. Heaven is fighting with us. And may God open our eyes as he did to Elisha’s servant, and see the hosts of angels in fiery chariots and horses surrounding EDSA (c.f. 2 Kgs 6:17)
Lex orandi, lex credendi. May we who are faithful to the rubrics of the Latin Mass may also be obedient to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
AMDG
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Dr. Quirino Sugon Jr.
Coordinator
Ateneo Latin Mass Society
Low Mass on 21 June 2012, 6 pm at the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola
Ateneo Latin Mass Society poster for Low Mass on 21 June 2012
Ateneo Latin Mass Society has a new WordPress blog
I made a new blog for the Ateneo Latin Mass Society in WordPress: ateneolatinmass.wordpress.com. I shall post there all the activities of the Ateneo Latin Mass Society and other notes and announcements on the liturgy. Since I do not wish to duplicate content (because Google does not love duplicates), the Monk’s Hobbit blog will be solely focused on Philippine Catholic culture and Catholic apologetics, with some tidbits about Philippine Jesuits and Ateneo de Manila University.
Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) at the Oratory of St. Ignatius in Loyola House of Studies on 26 Jan 2012
Latin Mass at Oratory of St. Ignatius in Loyola House of Studies on Jan 26, 2012
Latin Low Mass on Nov 24, 5:30-7:00 pm. at the Oratory of St. Ignatius in Loyola House of Studies
Latin Low Mass on Nov 24, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola
History of Ateneo Latin Mass Society: Dec 2008 to Oct 2011
Fr. Tim Ofrasio SJ celebrates a Latin Mass in Ordinary Form at the Ateneo High School Chapel of the First Companions
Here is a link to a 9 page History of Ateneo Latin Mass Society (ALMS) from Dec 2008 to Oct 2011 organized in chronological order: alms_history_20111102. This document will be attached to the ALMS report to Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of the Diocese of Cubao.
A visit to the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the Loyola House of Studies
Main entrance of the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the Loyola House of Studies
I went to the Loyola House of Studies this afternoon to meet with Fr. Jose Quilongquilong, SJ. It was difficult to catch him. I went to LHS a few days ago and the porter told me that Fr. Joe will be back this Friday. So I prepared my letter of request and decided to meet him at about 5 pm. I waited at the lobby and sat on one of the sofas.
The porter called. He is not around in his office.
“Paging Fr. Quilongquilong.”
After a while Fr. Quilongquilong came. Fr. Quilongquilong is the Rector of the Loyola House of Studies. He was ordained priest in 1993 and finished his Doctorate in Spirituality in the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He worked as regional secretary for Asia-Pacific at the Jesuit General Curia. For his dissertation, he wrote about the grace of vocation in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola with Fr. Anton Witwer, S.J. as mentor. (Loyola School of Theology)
“Father, Dr. Sugon of the Latin Mass Society would like to meet you. Oh, there he is.”
So I stood up and went forward.
“Father, I am Dr. Quirino Sugon of the Ateneo Latin Mass Society.”
Fr. Quilongquilong signed me to sit down.
“Our priest is Fr. Tim Ofrasio, SJ.” I continued. “We would like to request the use of the Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola for a Traditional Latin Mass.”
“When would that be?” Fr. Quilongquilong asked.
“November 24, 6:30-8:00 p.m.”
“Do you have a letter?”
“Yes,” I said and I handed him my letter.
“Would you like to visit the oratory?” he asked.
“That would be great, Father.”
“How many are you in the mass?”
“About 20 to 30, Father.”
“The oratory is too big for you.”
“I think we can double the attendees.”
On the far end of the lobby is a spiral staircase. Beneath it is a white statue of our Lady. Behind the staircase is a glass wall with a view of a green field of grass with a statue of St. Ignatius looking at an empty pond. A corridor to the right leads to the Cardinal Sin Center where the LHS Theological Hour is usually held. In normal days the center functions as a cafeteria.
We went up the staircase. On the second floor is the Oratory. We genuflected upon passing by the altar.
Oratory of St. Ignatius of Loyola (North side) at the Loyola House of Studies
It is an empty church, but unrivaled in architectural design. It is the most fitting for the Traditional Latin Mass. I think it can fit about 200 to 300 persons. There are still enough space at the overhanging second level. On the far side near the entrance is the choir loft–truly aloft. I can’t still make out of the Altar. It is dark. The sun is setting and light streamed through the stained glass windows. Then I recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral:
The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers — here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne — have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.
We went farther to the main entrance. It’s the crossroads.
“That’s the refectory,” Fr. Quilongquilong said as he pointed towards the West. “People would be coming from there (the North wing) and pass by this corridor. I don’t want a religious activity going on while the community is having supper from 7:00-8:00 p.m.”
“Ok, Father. I understand.”
“I shall first check with the community.”
“Thank you, Father.” And I raised his fingers to my forehead for blessing. Then we parted.
When I arrived at my office at Manila Observatory, I received a text from Fr. Quilongquilong. He confirmed that there is no scheduled activity at the Oratory on the 24th of November. But he suggested that we move the time to 5:30-7:00 pm.
“If Latin Mass is earlier then I would like our Jesuit scholastics to attend it,” he said.
I replied that the schedule is ok with me, but I shall first confer with Fr. Tim and my group in ALMS.
God works in wondrous ways.
Please pray for the Philippine Jesuits and the Ateneo Latin Mass Society.
Ateneo Rosary Crusade: Who wants to join?
October medal (Miraculous Medal) and rosary traditionally given for free in Ateneo de Manila University after an October Mass. The book is my 1962 Baronius Missal.
I read in Zenit:
MANILA, Philippines, AUG. 31, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Family Rosary Crusade in the Philippines is spearheading a campaign to get 1 million Filipinos to pray 1 million rosaries in 200 days for all nations in the world.
Dubbed “A million roses for the world: Filipinos at Prayer: Peace for All Nations,” the campaign aims to rally Filipinos to offer one rosary each day for a particular country in the world in 200 days.
The nationwide activity will begin Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and end May 31, 2012, Feast of Our Lady of All Nations.
I am thinking of organizing an Ateneo Rosary Crusade (ARC) as a complement to my other org, the Ateneo Latin Mass Society (ALMS). The ALMS I organized in behalf of Fr. Tim Ofrasio, SJ. For ARC, I have a couple of Jesuits in mind whom I can ask if they would be willing to serve as spiritual directors. But I think it would be easier to ask a Jesuit if there is already a stable group of Ateneans who would like to pray the rosary together, e.g. before mass in the college chapel.
I admit I have difficulty praying the rosary on my own. It requires an extreme effort on my part. But if there is a group who prays the rosary regularly, it is easier to persevere in prayer. As St. Louis de Montfort says, the demons can distract one person at a time, but several persons praying the rosary together is difficult to distract, just as a bundle of sticks is hard to break.
So is there anyone interested in joining the Ateneo Rosary Crusade?
The Rosary belongs to the Ateneo’s Jesuit tradition. Our Alma Mater Song is a Song for Mary. Our basketball team is the Hail Mary Squad. During October, the school gives out rosaries and October medals (Miraculous Medal) (I got 3 rosaries and 3 medals after mass). And Ateneo High School students always have rosaries in their pockets. So set us recover the tradition of praying the rosary in Ateneo de Manila University. Let us form the Ateneo Rosary Crusade.
