Our Lady's Missionaries to sell downtown property :: The Catholic Register :: Canada's Catholic news source

Our Lady's Missionaries to sell downtown property :: The Catholic Register :: Canada's Catholic news source

Summer Greeting June 30, 2006

Greetings once again from Mindanao!

As the people of Canada are winding down and beginning to look forward to summer, the people of the Philippines are grateful for the rain that has started again after a couple of extremely hot summer months. April and May is summer here. June is the beginning of the rains, and back-to-school time.

But most of all.... June 12, 2006 was the 50th Anniversary of Sr. Mary Gauthier's entrance into Our Lady's Missionaries. For those of you who don't know her so well, Sr. Mary is from the Fourth of Kenyon, Alexandria. We celebrated with friends, old and new, last Sunday, June 11 with a mass at our house followed by a celebratory dinner. Fr. Pat Kelly SFM led us in the celebration of a creative liturgy which included the planting of a tree nourished with organic fertilizer from our compost pit to recognize/symbolize that it is in facing the "garbage" in our life, and working through it that we find new life and peace. After the tree planting, a Muslim friend offered a prayer in the Meranao language and a Chinese friend offered incense and a prayer in Chinese... helping us to recognize the inter-connectedness and sacredness of all.

We had a shared homily which Sr. Mary led by speaking of people and experiences for which she feels grateful, beginning with her family and you, her friends and neighbours in Glengarry, and continuing with friends in Sourthern Leyte where OLM's used to live, and here in Mindanao where we now find ourselves. Others shared their gratitude for Sr. Mary's presence with us here in the Philippines.

We OLM's, Sisters Mary, Margaret, Myra, Lucy and Christine, renewed our vows as well, and I'm sure the others, like myself, were conscious of how we wouldn't be able to live out those vows here in the Philippines among people who have almost nothing of monetary value to share with us, if it weren't for people like you who support us with your prayers and donations.

The old friends who celebrated with us included Fr. Pat Kelly SFM who also lived and worked in Southern Leyte before, and Irene Yusingco who was among the first to welcome OLM's when they arrived in the Philippines way back in 1966.

The new friends included those with whom we work in two urban poor communities and in Muslim-Christian Dialogue for Peace, and the OLM Associates.

It was a grand way for Sr. Mary to BEGIN her celebration of her 50th anniversary. I say BEGIN because I know that she is looking forward to continuing her celebration of life with you there when she goes home for a visit next year!

Bye for now.... Peace, Christine Gebel OLM

Easter Greetings

From: Christine Gebel chris10@skyinet.net

Subject : Easter Greetings from the Philippines!

Happy Easter!

Holy Week is very important here, and we had Stations of the Cross followed by mass every day at 4am. I only managed to go on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I decided that it was better not to get too overtired so that I could still do my regular work well.

The stations were set up around the parish and the mass was outside too.... a different area every time. On Friday it was the whole parish that we walked around for the stations.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings I attended a mini-retreat at Xavier University. The reflections given were very nice and it was a good way to spend the Triduum... reflections in the mornings and masses/service in the afternoons.

Well... the school year here runs from June to March, so last month each of the 5 literacy centres had culmination ceremonies. Then on March 29, 30, 31 most the children from 3 of the centres (the children from the male and female minor sections of the prison obviously couldn't go) attended a summer camp. 61 children started the camp, but 2 went home early on the afternoon of the first day... one was sick with a fever, and the other just got too homesick and wouldn't stop cryiing for mama. At any rate, the kids had a ball! Attached are a couple of photos.
It's summer here now, and hot, hot, hot.... wish we could send you some of our heat!

So, hope that spring in Canada is a joyful reminder of the Resurrection as people begin to look forward to planting and being able to get outside more.

Peace, Christine Gebel

Letter from the Philippines

This letter from Sr. Christine is a response to our letter congratulating OLM on their recent award.

Hi from the Philippines!

Thanks very much for the congratulations. We have been receiving messages of support and the news of how last Sunday evening went from various friends. It certainly is nice to be reminded in such a clear way of how many people do know about us and keep us in their thoughts and prayers. It was only tonight that I realized that people had to pay to attend the function. It really took me by surprize that people would actually pay money to watch US get an award! Wow!

We've been having our own excitements here... you probably heard that the country spent one week under a "State of National Emergency." The President declared that it was necessary because of groups that were trying to destabilize and overthrow her government. It was a dangerous time for the country as rallies were banned, a couple of newspapers were shut down for printing seditious material, and warrant-less arrest were possible. Before the State of Emergency was declared we were planning to attend a Prayer Rally on the main street of town. Since rallies were banned, it was changed to a "Prayer Assembly." And, instead of being held in a public place, there were three meetings points, Xavier University, the Cathedral Grounds, or Cagayan Capitol University. Some of us when to Xavier and some of us went to the Cathedral. Both held very nice ecumenical and inter-faith prayers for peace, honesty, and justice for the nation.

Yesterday we had a good excitement here when 38 people met at our house to renew their commitment to inter-religious dialogue between Muslims and Christians. We had prayer and sharing stories before sitting down to lunch together. I'm mad at myself though because I had brought the camera down to take photos, and completely forgot to do so! Everyone had left when I remembered about it.... Hopefully the next time we have some kind of event, I'll remember to take some photos and send some to you again!

Bye for now then... Peace, Christine

Katherine Hawkin Award

READ FULL ARTICE - GO TO 'NEWS' ON LINK BELOW:
CCForum: Start Page
The Canadian Churches Forum for Global Ministries is honoured to announce the 2006 recipient of the Katherine Hockin Award, Our Lady's Missionaries.

This is the first time that the award has been offered to a community in mission. This Communities work is recently best known in Canada through their role in initiating the Out of The Cold program. However this program is only part of their work.

In Our Lady's Missionaries we see a sisterhood of Christians who sustain each other in a lifetime of breathtakingly generous response to the call of the Gospel. In ways that are practical, contemporary, profoundly respectful, courageous and full of compassion, they have hurried to the aid of people in need in Africa, Asia, South America and here at home. As their first priority they have cherished the invitation of Jesus to meet him already present in the poor, sick and hungry of the world. In faithfully living out that "option for the poor", they have consequently found new ways to obey the Lord's command to go, teach, and make disciples in every nation. More...

Women Say No To War

I just received this request from Sr. Christine. If you are interested please go to the provided link.

CODEPINK�:�Women Say No To WarPlease join in the following action if you are interested! Peace, Christine Gebel OLM

Men are invited to be in solidarity by signing this petition too!

Brief History of OLM

History of Our Lady’s Missionaries

Our Lady's Missionaries was founded in 1949, in Alexandria, Ontario, Canada under the direction of Msgr. Dan R. MacDonald (picture above). In 1959 the group relocated to Toronto. OLM receive members universally, who participate fully in the life and mission of the Congregation and the Church.

The first mission was opened in 1956 when four sisters went to Japan. In 1957 another mission was opened in Nigeria. As requests came from various countries, missions were opened in Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil, Guyana and England. Short term support work has also been provided in Vietnam, Thailand, Mozambique, the Canadian North and East Timor.

Christmas Day - Photos and Notes

This post and the next few posts were sent to me by Sr. Christine on Christmas Day 2005: (Excerpts)

"Here in the Philippines Christmas is pretty much finished with
supper after mass on Christmas Eve. People sleep in and take it easy on
the 25th, but there isn't much of a sense that it is still Christmas.
If you ask most people here when Christmas is... they will say it's
Decemer 24th! So, last night Anie, Mary and myself attended "midnight"
mass at 9pm at Sto. Niño parish where the three of us have some
involvements. Myra and Margaret attended "midnight mass" at 10pm at
Xavier University which is known for having very nice liturgies... and
last night they weren't disappointed. After mass we gathered at our
Carmen house for a late lunch."

"I had taken my dirty plate and cup to the sink and realized
that from there I had a wonderful view of the home of one of our
students... so I took this photo to show people the kind of place that
many of our children live in. This is one of the poorest, so many would
be a bit better off, but all would be extremely poor by Canadian standards."

Christmas Day-Photos and Notes

Here's a photo of the children at the Sto. Niño centre playing musical
chairs at their Christmas party.

Christmas Day - Photos and Notes

"This was a MEGA-party held for all the children of all the literacy
centres at Xavier University... except, of course, the children in the
prison weren't able to attend. All in all there were 80 kids! In this
photo.... just try to imagine 80 excited kids screaming CHEESE!!!"

Christmas Day - Photos and Notes

"Here is a photo of the children at the jail during their Christmas
party. There are acutally two literacy centres at the jail... one for
the boys and one for the girls. There are two jails on the one compound
and the male and female sections are run by two different wardens, so we
are not allowed to combine the boys and the girls even though there are
about 23 boys and only 2 girls at the moment. The girls were allowed to
come to the party with the boys which was good because it would have
been too hard to have a party for two girls only!"

"In this photo one of the boys is singing a song composed by
streetchildren about life on the streets... it is called "May Bukas Pa,"
in English, "There is Still Tomorrow." It's a very sad and touching
song.... both of the girl inmates were quietly crying as he sang. The
fellow playing the guitar is Mr. Moises Elaco who is hired part-time to
help with driving and outreach for the literacy centres."

Christmas Day - Photos and Notes

"Here's the last (and 5th, I hope) photo. This was the party at our
Kabula literacy centre. I think for all the kids, it would have been
the first time they's seen someone dressed up as Santa. Santa isn't
very common here among the poor, and mostly, I would guess that's
because most kids don't find any, nevermind many, gifts under the tree
on Christmas morning. Most probably don't have a tree for that matter."

"Actually, these past few weeks have been kind of difficult for me as
everyone I know, and many people whom I don't know have come to me
asking for a Christmas gift. Each time it happened, I got a bit
grumpier.... thinking to myself, where's the spirit of Christmas? Isn't
it supposed to be about giving rather than receiving? Do I look like
I'm made of money? Where am I supposed to get Christmas gifts for half
the people in town? I always find Christmas hard because of this.
Well... a few days back as Anie and I were tallking together about our
day during our community prayer, it suddenly struck me.... The poor
getting something, getting enough, from those of us who have too much, IS
the REAL Spirit of Christmas! I was the one who wasn't "getting it!"

Christmas in the Philippines

OLM SISTERS AT CARMEN HOUSE - PHILIPPINES. Left to right:
Sr. Anie Montejo (OLM Novice), Sr. Myra Trainor, Sr. Mary Gauthier,
Sr. Christine Gebel, Sr.Margaret Walsh. Note our cactus Christmas tree!

Prayers and best wishes
from Sr. Mary and Sr. Christine
in the Philippines:

May the Christ Child

born into a world of violence

continue to remind us

of God’s loving presence

in our broken world.

Dear Fr. Bob and friends at St. Mary’s Parish (Williamstown),

I would like to send Christmas greetings of Peace to you Fr. Bob and the Parishioners. It is good to celebrate Christmas in the Philippines this year. On Dec. 16th begins - Masses will be celebrated at 4am each day of the novena. It is a Spanish custom that has continued in some parts of the Philippines. I think the 4am was the time the rooster crowed and awakened the people when it was still dark. I don’t think I will hear the call of the rooster this year, at least not every day. I will remember you all with much gratitude as we celebrate the gift of Emmanuel - 'God with us'.

Mary Gauthier OLM.



Dear Fr. Bob and Parishioners of St. Mary's,

It is with much gratitude that I look back on 2005. My two months in Canada were a wonderful time of re-connecting with family and old friends, as well as making new friends. I carried back many good memories of my time in Glengarry, and the sisters in Toronto and the Philippines asked loads of questions and listened eagerly to my stories which in turn prompted them to remember and re-tell many of their own memories of our early days. I managed to get back into the swing-of-things very quickly here, and there's always something interesting to do. Now that Christmas is upon us, people are making a great effort to celebrate despite the fact that times are the hardest I've ever seen. Yesterday (December 11) we held a party at our house for some friends and the OLM Associates (a group of lay people who wish to share some aspects of our life and charism without living in community or becoming a religious) - attached are some photos of the party. (see picture at top)

Prayers and good wishes for a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year! Peace, Christine Gebel OLM