SMC: Touching base with the ever-ministering Good Shepherd

Introduction

By Sr. M. Suzanne Sinense

Good morning! Welcome and thank you for joining us in our farewell to Sr. Mary Consuelo at this Mass of the Resurrection. Your presence for this morning is a tribute to Sister’s wonderful way of gaining many friends in her quiet and unassuming way.

Photo Sr. M Suzanne Sinense

Sister accomplished so many things in her 86 years on earth, 58 of which were in religious life as a Good Shepherd Sister that it would be difficult to sum up all the highlights of her very prolific ministry to youth and adults. When she celebrated her Golden Jubilee as a sister in 2002, Sr. Pilar Verzosa did such a great sum-up that we were almost tempted to copy it for this necrology. But many of you might have been present then so we didn’t dare do that for we might be accused of plagiarism!

It is important to note though that first and foremost, Sr. Mary Consuelo was an educator with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education plus a Master’s and a PhD in Education. Even before she entered the convent in 1952, she had taught grade school in Binmaley, and founded two schools: the Binangonan Catholic School in that Rizal town and Sto. Tomas High School in Mangaldan, Pangasinan. As a Good Shepherd Sister she taught in the high school, college and graduate school departments of St. Bridget’s, Batangas. Besides teaching she was also very much in administration, being principal of St. Bridget’s, Quezon City, then College Dean of SBC Batangas and finally Dean of the SBC Graduate School from 1973-79.

But Sister’s versatility was not confined to the formal school setting. The formation of sisters was also entrusted to Sister when she was named as Directress of the newly-established Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen (now known as Contemplatives of the Good Shepherd). She accompanied the first group of aspirants who made their novitiate in Angers in 1961. She was also one of the early Juniorate directresses and a rather strict one at that!

In the 70s, she was one of the first volunteers to the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines to work among the poor in the rural areas. For two years, Sister worked in the poor barrios of Pangasinan, helping the people recognize their problems and find their own solutions. As one RM colleague described her, “Sr. Consuelo was a social catalyst, helping the poor become aware of their own human dignity and when she knew her work was done, she moved quietly on to another barrio.” Her administrative know-how also enabled her to organize parish nutrition programs in Pangasinan, coordinating with the parish clergy as Archdiocesan Nutrition Coordinator.

With such a rich experience in rural mission, it was no wonder that she also volunteered to help in the rehabilitation of the tidal wave victims in Pagadian, working closely with Bishop Tuquid of that Diocese. Mindanao had really become dear to her heart and she next helped Bishop Gaudencio Rosales (now Cardinal Archbishop of Manila) in his Diocese of Malaybalay. Not only did she help upgrade the DECS permits of the Catholic Schools in Malaybalay, but also provided invaluable help in preparing the confidential researches and evaluation of seminaries in the Philippines, East Timor and other Asian countries.  During this decade (1981 – 1991) she was officially in St. Bridget, Quezon City as guidance counselor and was well-loved by the youngsters in the grade school who often followed her from the SBS compound to this side of the fence.

The last decade of her life would be spent here at 1043 Aurora Blvd., first in the Euphrasian Residence and then in the Maria Droste Infirmary, While in ER, she developed several income-generating programs which helped many youths and adults to augment  their means of livelihood: making all occasion greeting cards and Christmas cards and preparing herbal teas. If her contemporary, Sr. Annette Endencia, was proud of having reached ocho-ocho (she was 88 when she died), Sr. Consuelo became famous for “pito-pito”, the herbal tea made of seven different leaves which  her protégés in the IGP gathered, dried and packed under her careful supervision.

In 2005, Sr. Consuelo suffered a fall which necessitated a hip replacement surgery. She then moved to the Maria Droste Infirmary. These last five years were days of quiet prayer and serenity. Always soft-spoken and ever with a sweet smile, Sr. Consuelo was a good example to all of us at GSC. For her retreat last year, she asked Sr. Mary James Wilson for a retreat on ZEAL, showing that the ardent, zealous Sr. Consuelo of old was still touching base with the ever-ministering Good Shepherd whom we know she now has joined.

- Sr. M. Suzanne Sinense RGS

Homily

By Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales
                                                                                                                                                      

Message of Gratitude 

Atty. Ferrer                                                                                                                                                                              

Message of Gratitude

By Sr. M. Cecilia Torres RGS
Province Leader 

Good Morning!

At the beginning of the Mass, we heard of the life of Sr. Mary Consuelo Ferrer.  The Eucharistic Celebration today unites us -- her congregation, family and friends in giving thanks to God for the gift of Sr. Consuelo. Only two years short of her Diamond Jubilee, Sr. Consuelo has been a beautiful part of the Religious of the Good Shepherd.  She is one of the hundredfold of blessings that the Philippine Province of the Good Shepherd has received from God as the 2012 Centennial of Good Shepherd Presence in the Philippines approaches.

During the first year of the Philippine Province she accepted the call to go to our Mother House in Angers, France to be able to accompany the first contemplatives in the Philippines as their directress. Later she was appointed juniorate directress of the apostolic sisters.  Today, the Religious of the Good Shepherd in the Philippines, apostolic and contemplative, thank God for Sr. Consuelo.

Today as we accompany Sister to her resting place, we thank the Ferrer Family for the gift that Sr. Consuelo was to the congregation.  

In the recommendation letter that Fr. Francis Kutscher SVD, parish priest of Binmaley wrote in 1952, he said, “I can sincerely say that I always considered her an exemplary catholic girl. She is pious, helpful to others, cheerful … and has, according to my opinion, a real vocation for the religious life.  In our parish, Consuelo supported wholeheartedly any activity of the parish, especially the fund- raising campaign for the reconstruction of our war-damaged parish church. She showed a special gift for organizing programs, etc. but with all her activities, she never forgot her daily Mass, communion and visit of the Blessed Sacrament when she was here in Binmaley.”

The letter of Fr. Kutscher touched me today as we pay tribute to Sr. Consuelo and to the Ferrer family that nurtured her so that she may give herself completely to God and his people.  The many people she helped in her income-generating projects, some of whom are present now, are the living testaments of her self-giving, so manifest even during her early youth.

Thank you very much all you members of the Ferrer family especially Sr. MariFlora SSpS, nephews and nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces, friends of Sr. Consuelo, members of the different congregations present today, and the priests  who came to celebrate our Mass of the Resurrection.

Our Mother Foundress, St. Mary Euphrasia, often quoted this saying which I now echo to you, “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”