Philippine Province of the Good Shepherd celebrates Golden Jubilee on December 3

The Philippine Province of the Good Shepherd celebrates on December 3, 2010 its Golden Jubilee of establishment. This is just two years before the 2012 Centennial that will mark 100 years of Good Shepherd presence in the country.

It was on December 3, 1960, the feast of St. Francis Xavier, patron of the missions, that the creation of the province was announced. The  first provincial of the Philippine Province was Sr. Mary John of the Cross Kroner, an American.

This year’s Golden Jubilee of the province takes special significance as the Good Shepherd Sisters in the country and those in foreign mission, the lay partners and alumnae/alumni look forward to the 2012 Centennial.

The Good Shepherd Sisters, apostolic and contemplative, will mark this occasion with Masses of Thanksgiving in the different convents and parishes where the sisters serve. As the Sisters in the Province thank God for his fidelity and care, the Sisters will also remember the missionaries who came and served in the country, the benefactors who supported the programs, and the girls and women who have been part of the rich history of the Philippine province. With gratitude, the Sisters of the Philippine Province also offer prayers for the priests who celebrated Masses and provided spiritual nourishment to the sisters, and the religious who have collaborated with the work of the Good Shepherd Sisters. It is united with the Congregational Leadership Team and the various provinces, districts and sectors all over the world.

The first Irish Good Shepherd missionaries set foot in the Philippines on October 4, 1912 upon the invitation of  Monsignor Joseph Petrelli, archbishop of Lipa, who requested that a Catholic school be established in Batangas City.  The first missionaries that the Superior General Sr. Mary Domitilla Larose sent came from Rangoon. After several months of preparation, on January 1913, St. Bridget’s Academy opened its doors to students.


Into a great tree


It was December 3rd 1960, feast of St. Francis Xavier, Patron of the Missions. In the community room of our Quezon City convent, the sisters listened in hushed expectancy as our dear Mother Provincial, Mother Mary of St. John of the Cross, began to make an announcement. Then the words were out, greeted with jubilation by everyone present: “The Philippines has been made a province and Quezon City, is the Provincial House. We are going to have a Novitiate here.”

It was indeed wonderful news to the Sisters, some of whom had been in this faraway Philippine mission since its earlier days. For thirty three years, the only two houses in the country, that of Batangas founded in 1912, and that of Manila, founded in 1921, were directly under the Motherhouse. Then in 1945, Los Angeles, California, was created a mission province and the Philippines and Shanghai were placed under its jurisdiction.

There was a babble of happy voices as questions poured out after Mother Provincial’s announcement. But foremost of course was, “What about Los Angeles? A sigh of relief escaped from everyone at Mother’s assurance that Los Angeles would remain in the province, and that its novitiate would continue to be a training ground for foreign mission vocations. For a double bond of deep affection and great gratitude has existed between the former Provincial House and all the Houses in the Philippines and Hong Kong since 1945.

Now fifteen years later, as a new provincial house is born, the rapid growth and development of Good Shepherd work in the Philippines reminds us forcefully of Our Lord’s parable about the “great tree, sheltering many birds in its branches” that had sprung from a little mustard seed.

(Taken from “Into a Great Tree” article published in “The Good Shepherd of Angers” Quarterly Bulletin No. 1- 1962. 66th Year.)

At the time of the creation of the Philippine Province, the only communities in the country were St. Bridget’s in Batangas City, the one in Sta. Ana, Manila that was opened in 1921 upon the invitation of  Monsignor Jeremy Harty, Archbishop of Manila, St. Domitilla's School, Villa Maria in Cebu, Community in Baguio City and Maryridge in Tagaytay.

From its establishment in 1912 until 1945, the Philippines was under the Mother House in Angers, France. The communities of Batangas and Manila, like the one in Shanghai, were later placed under the Los Angeles Province when it was created as a mission province. Candidates were sent to Los Angeles for the novitiate, instead of Angers, France. With the creation of the Philippines as a province, a novitiate was also created in the country.

New communities were opened in the Philippines; the first Contemplative community was founded in Quezon City. With the coming of more vocations,  the Good Shepherd Sisters were able to found communities and residences in  Buhi, other places in Luzon, and then Mindanao, Guam and South Korea to answer the needs of girls and women in difficulty.

To date, there are 145 apostolic sisters missioned in 24 communities and  22 contemplatives in four contemplative communities in the Philippines. These communities are Good Shepherd Community, Euphrasian Community, St. Bridget School- QC,, Heart of Mary Villa, Provincialate in Quezon City, Tahanan in San Andres Bukid, Welcome House/Malate Community, Maryridge and Bahay Pastulan in Tagaytay, Bukid Kabataan in General Trias, Cavite, St. Bridget College-Batangas, Baguio Community, Isabela Community, St. Bridget School in Buhi, Legaspi Community, Good Shepherd Homer in Naga, Villa Maria in Cebu, Reach-Out Center in Davao, Kalilid in Agusan, Iligan/Bukidnon Community, Cagayan de Oro Community, Pagadian Community, CGS-Banawa, CGS-Butuan, CGS-Tagaytay and CGS-Virac. Formation houses for the apostolic aspirants, pre-novices, novices, temporary professed sisters are in Quezon City while the contemplatives are in Tagaytay and Cebu. 

Sr. M. Cecilia Torres RGS, the eighth province leader of the Philippines, was elected during the 2008 Province Chapter held in Maryridge, Tagaytay.

At total of 31 apostolic and contemplative sisters are currently serving the foreign mission-- France, Italy, Angola, Austria, Canada, Ethiopia, Hongkong, Japan, Kenya, Macau, Senegal, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.

 

Please read: Highlights: Good Shepherd Sisters in the Philippines
                      1912-1980  
and 1981-2010
                      Province Leaders through the Years