The Faculty of Christian Studies of the University of Saint Joseph celebrated its first Faculty Day on December 3, 2013, the feast of Saint Francis Xavier with a Solemn Mass in the Chapel of the Seminary of Saint Joseph.
The Mass was presided by the USJ Rector Fr. Peter Stilwell and concelebrated by eight more priests, including five Dominican brothers who are this semester part of the teaching staff of the only Faculty of Theology in Macau. The brothers are: Frs. Javier Gonzalez, Ambrose Mong, Edmond Eh, Jarvis Sy and Fausto Gomez. The homily was preached by the Dean of the Faculty, Fr. Joao Eleuterio.
The faithful attending the Holy Eucharist were mainly the lay staff of the Faculty and the students, the majority of which are our student brothers and the postulants of the Dominican sisters of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary. The Dominican students and postulants animated the Mass with appropriate songs. Fr. Jarvis, the USJ Chaplain the liturgy.
Fr. Joao chose St. Francis Xavier as the Patron of the Faculty because he is the great missionary in this part of the world, the patron of the Church’s missionary work, and the patron of China. In his homily, Fr. Eleuterio invited us to be inspired by the zeal and commitment of the great Jesuit missionary.
By the way, the yearly open house celebration of the Jesuits in Macau is also on the day of St. Francis Xavier. The main event was the evening High Mass presided by the Bishop of Macau, Most Reverend Joseph Lai presided, who was accompanied at the altar by about fifty priests from the Society of Jesus and other religious and secular priests. The Mass was held also at the beautiful baroque Chapel of St. Joseph Seminary, which keeps relics of the Jesuit saint. It was attended by a great number of religious sisters from different congregations and lay faithful that filled up the church.