A Reflection on the Regional Study Week – from 3th to 7th, January 2017

Every year, during the semester break of the classes in Seminaries for the Christmas Season and New Year, the Brothers who are studying in the Holy Spirit Seminary of Hong Kong Diocese and the Brothers who are studying in Saint Joseph Seminary (USJ)–Macau gather together at Saint Dominic Priory–Macau to have a Regional Study Week.

This year the theme of the course was on “Introduction to Homilectic.” This interesting and inspiring workshop was given by Fr. Edmond Eh, OP, the Moderator of Studies of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, on January 03 – 07, 2017. Attracted by the theme of the course which was organized by the Dominican Friars, this time besides about twenty Dominican simply professed students took part in the course, we also welcome two Brothers from the Divine Word Congregation (SVD) to join us in this time.

Though the course was short, but we did had a chance to study and develop our skill, based on two parts: Lectures on how to prepare a good homily and Application on practice preaching. The lecturer emphasized the importance of the preachers as instruments of God for the salvation of souls and building up the kingdom of God on earth. As an itinerant preacher of God is to preach/to bring the Message of God to the people. Therefore, in our Dominican preaching to have a good homily, Fr. Edmond said: “our preaching has always been rooted in a scientific study of theology and discerning the ‘sign of the times’ which proceeds from supernatural principles and illuminated through prayer.” Truly, as Dominicans, we are invited to imitate our Founder, Holy Father Saint Dominic who was a man of prayer and preacher.

To have this chance of being together joyfully and fruitfully, we are grateful and thankful to the Fathers of the Formation Council who have given us this opportunity. And particular thanks for the guidance of Fr. Edmond throughout the course.

We pray to the Good Lord through the intercession of our Holy Father Saint Dominic, may He bless us and guide us on our journey To Praise – To Bless – To Preach.

Macau January 7, 2017
Bro. Joseph Tran Van Huong, OP

Ps. Here below we want to share with you some pictures of our classes and activities during the course.

             

Temporary Religious Profession of Dominican Sisters — Macau (SAR), China —

Bro. Stephen Saw Lej O.P.

Together with the bishop, concelebrants and members of the Congregation

The Congregation of Missionary Dominican Sisters of the Rosary have been present in Macau since 1949. There are four communities of Sisters now in Macau and one of them is the formation house for new candidates in Taipa Peninsula. The novices go to the Philippines for their canonical year after accomplishing their studies at the University of Saint Joseph. Seven novices who had recently finished their novitiate, made their simple profession in the presence of Sr. Asunta Fang, the Provincial Coordinator of the Province of Queen of China.

The occasion was celebrated with the holy Eucharist presided by His Excellency Stephen Lee, Bishop of Macau. It took place at the chapel of Saint Joseph’s Seminary at 11:00 am, on 24 September 2016.

The bishop, in his homily, gave a short reflection regarding the religious profession, the meaning of religious life in the Church and the calling of God. He also encouraged the newly professed sisters to totally trust in their community, to imitate the simple living style of our Lady, the Mother of the Church, and to follow Jesus Christ steadfastly.

Some professors, students of Religious Studies, guests and relatives of the sisters and representatives from different religious congregations were also present during the mass. The Dominican friars and student brothers also gave their support to the celebration cooperating with the student sisters by singing hymns in the mass. The presence and prayers of the assembly accompanied and strengthened in many ways the newly professed sisters along their vocational paths.

Seven Newly Professed Sisters

The newly professed sisters are from different countries, namely:

(1) Sr. Nelia Soares Da Silva Pinheiro (East Timor)

(2) Sr. Leonarda Da C. Evangelista (East Timor)

(3) Sr. Mariana Dos Santos Barreto (East Timor)

(4) Sr. Roberta Moniz Soares (East Timor)

(5) Sr. Beatrix Thomasia Pias Kahlasi (Indonesia)

(6) Sr. Maria (Myanmar)

(7) Sr. Cherropihtun (Myanmar)

Pastoral exposure in Thailand and East-Timor of our Brothers

I – Pastoral exposure in Thailand

Br. Francis Nge Nge, Br. Santino, Br. Stephen, Br. Marko and Br. Francis Buling

       We, Br. Francis Nge Nge, Br. Stephen, Br. Santino, Br. Marko and Br. Francis Buling, went to Thailand for our summer pastoral exposure. While we were there, we stayed in one of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic’s communities in Samut Sakhon. Samut Sakhon is one of the central provinces of Thailand where there are many shrimp factories. The Dominican community we stayed in is situated in one of the poorest area in the province named Tha Chin (Mahachai) where there are many migrant workers from Myanmar. The main work of the Dominican Sisters there is to help teaching the children and to take care of them in the centers for the migrants’ children. With the invitation of the parish priest, Fr. Vitaya Ladloei, who oversees the centers and of the Sisters, we went to teach in those centers. There are three centers for migrants’ children, namely: St. Joachim center, St. Ann center and Marist center, and generally speaking, all of them are under the supervision of the parish priest. Among those three centers, St. Joachim center is originally and officially under the care of the Dominican sisters of Missionaries; the Marist center is under the care of the Marist Brothers, and St. Ann center is under the care of the St. Ann parish priest respectively. We had to teach in those centers from Monday to Friday from 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. We were requested to teach the children the academic subjects such as: Math, Science, History, English and Burmese. We also helped the students play sports in the afternoon. Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, we had home visitation. On those evenings, the sisters, the Marist brothers, the teachers and we, went to the house of the students, mainly to visit their families and to discuss with the parents about how their children were doing in the centers.

       There were two secular priests from Myanmar residing next door to the Dominican Sisters’ community. They celebrated the Mass for us from Monday to Saturday and for the Sunday Mass, we went to the St. Ann parish. With the help of one of the Burmese priests called Fr. Albert, we were able to visit and meet the Myanmar Catholic youth who were working in different parts of Thailand. With the invitation of this priest, we were able to perform some pastoral works such as: sharing stories and experiences, explaining to them about the religious life, praying, worshiping and so on. Through sharing not only did we come to know each other but also we really came to understand each other’s life. There were also two Xaverian priests from Italy living in the neighborhood of the sister’s community. They also invited us to join them when they went to visit the poor in the slum area of Bangkok where they had their main pastoral work. Through their help, we were able to meet some of the Thai Catholic youth as well.

Brothers with Dominican Sisters and the migrants’ children.

       When the feast of Saint Dominic came, all the Dominican Missionary Sisters all over Thailand came together to celebrate the feast in one of their communities in Samphran. Dominican sisters from Vietnam province who were living nearby also came to join our solemn celebration. The Mass was solemnly presided over by a Dominican priest from the Vietnam Province and concelebrated by his fellows and a Dominican priest from the Australian Province. After the mass, followed a banquet. It was such a great joy to celebrate the feast of our founder together with the brothers and sisters from different provinces.

       We also had a wonderful travelling experience in Thailand. We travelled most of the time at weekends to different places. We went to visit many unique, historic and glorious temples all over Bangkok; to visit the historic city or ancient ruins of Ayutthaya;  to the elephant ground to see the elephant show, to Pattaya to visit the biggest park in Thailand; to some of the most famous shopping malls in Bangkok and we went to the wet markets around Bangkok where you can get any kind of sea product you want. We once even travelled to the north, Mea Sot, to visit one of the Dominican Sisters’ communities which was also an orphanage and we stayed there for a couple of days. Apart from spending the days playing games and having fun with the children there, we were also able to go to the border of Myanmar and see the life the migrant workers were living. Not far from that place, there was a community of Xaverian priests and we were invited to visit their community. When we went there, the fathers showed us the works they were doing. It was so fascinating to see how their works were making big impact on the community there and its surroundings.

Reflection

“we are telling you about our Dominican Order”

The experience we received from Thailand apostolate exposure is priceless and worth sharing. Since it was our first time to go for a mission in a country we had not been before and to meet the people we knew not, we learned many new things through this experience.

Enjoy every moment!

We were moved by the people who were really in need. We were happy to be there just to help them to be strong in mind even though we could not help them in their physical well-being. Despite the fact that we were not really well prepared for this mission, we were so happy to give them what we had. Most of the people we met in Thailand who were in real need were Buddhists. However, we were touched by the statement of a missionary priest who was helping them there. His statement is as follows: “Put aside what their religion is, and you will see they are just like us, another human beings. They are our closest neighbors and Jesus Christ taught us to love our neighbors”. Although our presence in the centers for the migrants’ children was a great help, we could see that it sometimes meant a big burden to the administrators of the centers because firstly, when they put us into their systematically run programs, they had to reorganize the whole thing just for the sake of us; and secondly, we were totally untrained for what we were to do and not really fit for the job. We finally would conclude that although we did not really make any big impact on the work there, we believe we did contribute something to what the sisters, the brothers and the teachers are doing. And most importantly, we are sure that all these experiences we had there would help us to serve others better in the future. Bro Santino, OP. Chronicler

II – Pastoral exposure in Timor-Leste

On the Feast of St. Dominic together with Bishop and Sisters

       This summer year experience was special for many of us and hopefully these experiences will remain with us to remind us and give us courage to face our studies meaningfully.  As we are celebrate the 800th years anniversary of our Dominican establishment, we, the brothers also have a special privilege to feel and encounter the missionary works in different places in our province (The province of Our Lady of the Rosary). For the two of us (Bro Ignatius and Br Peter) we were in Timor-Leste for two and half months as summer exposure to stay with the brothers there and to have some experiences of the missionary works done by our brothers in Timor-Leste.

At Youth gathering

It was remarkable period for us, for we not only see and experience the missionary works of our brothers but also we had chances to experience the cultures of the local people and their lives. We had the opportunity to live with and accompany our brothers who are working there by helping out with daily works in the house and going with them to the villages to minister the sacraments.  The people are nice in a sense that they have highly respect and reverence for the missionaries like Father and Sisters and also they have beautiful cultures.

Since we are celebrating 800 years Jubilee of the Order, we also had a chance to participate in a special events which organized by Dominicans Family in Timor-Leste, the solemn feast of St. Dominic and Youth gathering as to mark special year celebration of the Order in Timor-Leste.

       Indeed, for us the summer exposure experiences had been a meaningful and remarkable impression, which we like to repeat if there is a chance.

Sharing with Youth about our calling

Dominican Sisters

A happy time with Sisters

The Reflection on the Formation Classes – from 4th to 8th, January 2016

In the Dominican way of living, already 800 years, many books, studies, researches, etc. have been touching on, and searching for the best way to live in communion as Brothers and Sisters. So, today, are there any new things to talk about the Religious Life? The answer is YES. The Dominican Brothers of the Holy Rosary Province are making something new during these days.
Due to the breaking-time of the classes in Seminaries, the Brothers who are studying in the Holy Spirit Seminary of Hong Kong Diocese and the Brothers who are studying in Saint Joseph Seminary (USJ) – Macau gather together at Saint Dominic Priory – Macau to have “Formation Classes.” During this time we have chances to learn, to share, to experience with other Brothers about our life regarding to The Way we are following.
The classes become so rich – new – excited when all of us “dare” to share, to question each other openly-fraternally on “how to live a true fraternal life?” even up to the questions in which we thought that we may never have a chance to speak it out. But we did it and we will continue doing and sharing it until the end of this week. In this way we are “renewing” our relationship with each other.
To have this chance of being together joyfully and fruitfully, we are grateful and thankful to the Fathers of the Formation Council who have given us this opportunity. And also many thanks to the patience, professional guidance of our Prior, Fr. Jose Luis De Miguel Fernandez throughout the course.
We pray to the Good Lord through the intercession of our Holy Father Saint Dominic, may He bless us and guide us on our journey To Praise – To Bless – To Preach.

Macau January 6, 2016
Bro. Joseph Tran Van Huong OP
Ps. Here below we want to share with you some pictures of our classes and activities during the course.