“Daring Anew to go where you would rather not go” was the theme of this year’s Camillian renewal course.  The theme provided a sense of direction in dealing specifically with the vow of obedience and the Camillian missionary zeal.  The weeklong renewal course was organized by the Secretariat for Formation of the Philippine Province and was held at St. Camillus Pastoral Health Care Center in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

To give the religious more room to choose their time of participation, the course, like last year, was conducted twice.  The first batch of religious attended the course from September 28 to October 4, while the second batch from October 5 to 11.  Attendance ran up to a total of 36 religious, among whom were confreres from Taiwan, Thailand and Australia. 

The course started with a recollection facilitated by Fr. Rudy Fernandez, SJ (not the actor).  He shared about his experiences, particularly about his assignments and mission that made him dare again and again to go where he would rather not go. He likened his experiences to those of Jonah and the disciples of Jesus.  

On the second day, Fr. James Ferry of the Maryknoll Fathers shared some of his thoughts and experiences in relation to “The Challenges of Priestly Life Today.”  He stressed the life of prayer as one way to cope with the different struggles and challenges in the consecrated life.  In the afternoon, we went to the college seminary and had an agape night with the seminarians, who prepared a welcome program for the participants. 

Msgr. Pete Getigan, founder of the Servants of Mary Queen of Apostles, gave a beautiful talk about “Conflict Management” on the third day.  He explained various approaches in managing conflicts and ways of developing a frame of mind that could help religious better cope with the problems in the community.  For self-assessment, he suggested the use of questions like “Am I free?  Am I growing? etc.” 

Coming all the way from Rome and setting aside his hectic schedule, Bro. Lucca Perletti, MI took center stage on the fourth day.  He gave enlightening reflections on “Justice and Solidarity in the World of Health.”  He clarified some basic questions related to our Camillian spirituality, charism and ministry in the light of the signs of the times.  With Metro Manila and Central Luzon having been recently devastated by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, Br. Lucca’s presence was a special and timely blessing to the Philippine Province.  He was able to join the Philippine Camillian Task force in planning its response to one specific, concrete sign of the times.   

The fifth day presented to the participants a very serious topic – “The Vow of Obedience.”  Fr. Sammy Canilang, CMF, the resource person of the day, talked about the relevance and effectiveness of the vow in the modern and fast changing context of the global world.

On the sixth day, Fr. Dennis Paez, SDB, discussed a very interesting topic on “Midlifing.”  He described concise and concrete situations of religious in mid-life and offered tips on how to deal with midlife issues and challenges.  It was interesting to note that all the participants, including younger religious outside the midlife age bracket, could resonate well with the subject matter. 

As God rested on the seventh day, so did the participants.  As per schedule, they were supposed to go on a day tour in Villa Escudero to relax and unwind.  But in solidarity with the suffering typhoon victims, they dispensed with the outing.  Instead, they made the day holy and offered prayers and planned ways of helping the victims, particularly those in the areas of Camillian ministry.

It was indeed a successful renewal.  Successful not only because of the interesting topics, but because of the renewed quality time the confreres spent with one another.  One religious, having observed how the confreres bonded together commented, “Kung ganito lang sana palagi ang mga religious, and saya sigurado,” (If only we were like this everyday, it would be such a joy.)  Let us hope and pray that each one of us would always dare anew to go where we would rather not go.  God Bless us all.