A PROFILE OF AN ITINERANT MISSIONARY IN ASIA

 Fr. Santiago Saiz, OP, visited our convent in Macau some days in April, 2013. Bro. Matthew Shing MangTun, OP, interviewed Fr. Santiago, who was then on his way to our new mission in East Timor. Fr. Santiago is the third man of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary there and is joining our brothers Frs. Ruben Martinez and Gerson Javier Nieto. Bro. Matthew is a fourth year theology student from Myanmar at the Faculty of Christian Studies of the Catholic university of Saint Joseph, Macau (Editor)

Question: Good morning Father Santiago. It is a pleasure to meet you and talk to you! My name is Brother Matthew. First of all, let me ask you about your family, and where were you born and grew up?

Answer: I am Spanish. My hometown is called Arcos (Burgos), which is – more or less – 80 km from Caleruega, the birthplace of St. Dominic. So I grew up in a simple family. My father is a farmer, we were nine altogether. We are seven brothers, I am the third. I had opportunity to go to the minor seminary, when I was 11. At that time, there was no Dominican yet in my hometown.

Could you tell us your vocation story?

In my hometown, there was a tradition to send the students to the Marist brothers. My elder brother went there.  So, my father also prepared for me to go there. So one of the Marist brothers came to bring us with him, but my friend and I decided not to go: I did not want to become a brother, but a priest. So later on, through my friends, my family allowed me to join the Dominicans, when the Dominicans came to our place.

What difficulties did you encounter during your studentate and how did you solve them to survive?

In the minor seminary we started 126 seminarians at the beginning, but during the novitiate year, only 14 brothers started and 9 of us remained. My best friend left too. So, I was a little bit sad. At the beginning I had some doubts. I decided to remain and since then I had no serious problem in my novitiate. Regarding the studentate years, I was quite happy in Madrid, in a very large convent with a great library. Almost all the professors were Dominicans. One of them was Fr. Jose Luis de Miguel. He taught me History of Religion for one year. Well, for six years our professors taught us a lot of theology and philosophy. But at the beginning it was a little bit hard the relationship between the new professed students and the students who were about to be ordained. It was a great privilege, however, to have a very open-minded master of students. We were allowed to go out and visit the parishes and do some apostolate works during the weekends. In general, it was a very happy time.

As a Dominican from Spain how did you feel when you were assigned to Asia as a missionary?

I started to know something about our missionaries in my novitiate, which I did in Ocaña (Toledo), a very special place where many martyrs and missionaries came from. Later, during my seminarian life, we used to represent special “dramas”, or theater representations with the stories of our missionaries in China, Japan and Vietnam. By reading these stories I became very interested in our missions. I was very fortunate also because I had a chance to live with Fathers who had been great missionaries in different places in Asia. I was moved and inspired by their holy life. They were very happy missionaries of Christ, so I wished to become a missionary in Asia and try to be – as they were – a happy missionary. Later on, I was ordained Deacon. My superiors asked me then where I would wish to go for the mission. I answered them I would like to study more now so I would be ready to teach in the future. Maybe, I added, I would like to go to the Philippines, where we have a great school, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), or maybe to Japan. My superiors assigned me to Japan. This was one of my two choices, so I was happy to go there.

As a missionary of Christ, how do you spend a day in your place of mission?

In Japan, at the beginning it was very hard and difficult to learn the language. I spent two, almost three years in silence, learning the language, culture and way of living of the Japanese people. After three years, I was able to say Mass in Japanese properly, although it was very difficult, especially when we were very young: we wanted to do pastoral work as soon as possible! After one year and half, I was sent to a small parish, which had at that time a hundred Christians – more or less. I was very happy then taking care of Kindergarten kids – and still struggling with the Japanese language. Later on, I thought about the possibility of studying History of the Church. The superiors granted my wish: I would go to Rome to study. So I was ready to go there, and had already the plane ticket; but then the superior of Tokyo become sick and the brothers looked for someone to replace him. The brothers chose me to be the new Superior. Thus my project to go to Rome was shelved. I was asked to study more, so I went to the Jesuit University and studied Pastoral Theology – theory and practice. While studying, I did some pastoral work and helped some parishes around. I was studying for three years, and this was very helpful for me and my current and future work.

What makes your day a happy one in your life as a missionary in Asia?

After studying at the Jesuit University in Tokyo, I became a high schoolteacher at Aiko School, Matsuyama. After six months, I was asked to go to our mission in Korea. I was one of the first groups to go there. Again, it was a very hard time at the beginning. I remember one touching moment when the Fathers who came with me left to different places. I had some doubts then regarding the future of the mission of the Province in Korea. Then something beautiful happened: one shining moment that strengthened my resolution to continue there. This is what happened: one day I went to say Mass to the Church; on my way back at the metro station, one man approached me in a hurry and asked me: “Are you a priest?” I answered, yes. He continued asking me: “Do you have time?” Well, I must go home and prepare my dinner, I said. Right away I realized that this man really needed my help. So, I told him, if you want to come to my house, we can speak. So, we went to the house. As soon as he came in, he started crying and talking. It was like an explosion! I didn’t say a word, but just stayed there and listened to him. While he was talking and crying, I was thinking: maybe I came to Korea because of this man; this is my mission! I don’t need to go out and look for work; God who sent to me this man to help him will send others as He wishes. If I am open, I thought, I can be of help. This was a very simple pastoral experience, but for me it was a very touching one, because it made me realize what mission is all about, namely, to be available and open. People will notice that just listening to people is a mission; listening to people who are suffering is what pastoral work is all about. It is not about building many churches or something like that. For me, indeed, that touching moment with a needy person was a turning point in my mission.

Father, tells us something about your life in Korea and Japan?

It was eighteen years in Korea. In these years, formation was my main work among others. I covered all the formation areas. I was in charge of the postulants. I was master of novices for three years more or less. I was master of student for many years. I was also in charge of the Dominican Laity and the Rosary Association. Moreover, I was helping in many parishes close to our house, and also from time to time I gave retreats to different communities of brothers and sisters. I used to be a confessor of the cloistered Dominican sisters and taught them Bible and Christology. Before I went to Korea, I was in Japan for eight years. After my years in Korea, I went back to Japan where I was assigned for the last five years. Back in Japan, I was a parish priest, I was in charge of two kindergartens and for two years I was also the administrator of the Diocese of Takamatsu. So I had plenty of work and was moving here and there all the time.

I heard and read that Fr. Provincial wrote a letter to all the brothers in our Province for volunteers as missionaries to East Timor. You were very much settled down first in Korea and now in Japan, and you know well the cultures in Korea and Japan. I noticed that you were talking with our Korean brothers in their language at breakfast this morning… My question is: Why did you offer yourself to go to our new mission in East Timor? Or what made you say “Yes” to the letter of Fr. Provincial?

 It is a very good question indeed. It was a kind of heart feeling, not of much thinking. When I read the letter of Fr. Provincial Javier asking for volunteers, I asked myself what I should do. Without much thinking I said: I must support this mission; at least I must say “OK let us start.” However, I realized that one thing is to volunteer and another to be sent! I decided that I’ll try anyway. The way this decision was taken by me became a cause of distress and burden to my brothers in Japan. For this I apologized. But after the decision was taken by the P. Provincial to send me to East Timor, he asked me to be open to return to those missions if the future superiors think it is needed to do so. Personally, I am open to any future assignment, of course.

 Now I would like to ask you: “Who is St. Dominic for you?”

Well, he was a very sensitive man. He knew the needs of the Church and he knew that we should be as poor as possible in many ways and thus cut any attachment and become more opened to walk freely and bring the Good News to the people. Our Father Dominic was also a very good listener. According to my experiences in Japan and Korea, in life we learn more than we teach. So now I am going to learn to be poor in new ways. I think I am going to receive plenty of lessons because the Timorese Christian community seems to be very simple and also naive in the good way, and close to God. I hope this community will be for me a great lesson to be learned. So I am going there to learn and later on, if I can share something, I would be very happy to share it with them.

Finally, we are about to finish our studies, and about to go out as missionaries. Do you have any message for us?

We are sent to a mission. We don’t decide where and what to do. So now in most of the countries, there is the local Church. This reality is a little different from the one at the time I became a Dominican and sent as a missionary. Now we are supposed to help the local churches more, collaborate with the local clergy and not be obstacles to the pastoral projects of the respective local Church. We must be very patient and helpful and live in harmony with the local clergy and the local Church.  This sounds good but it is not easy to carry out! Usually the local clergy are more down to earth and tend to be a bit more conservative. We need to take time to learn. If the ecclesiastical authorities ask you to take care of the children, you take care of the children, and if later on you find ways to do something else, do it. The most important thing is to live in harmony with the community where one is assigned.

Muchas Gracias Padre! May the Good Lord always keep you in peace in the new Mission in East Timor!

(Interview by Brother Matthew Shing Mang Tun, OP)