FILIPINO DOMINICANS are stronger when they come together, said Santo Domingo parish priest Fr. Simon Peter Ramos, O.P. in a Mass for the 54th founding anniversary of the Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP) on Monday, Dec. 8.
Ramos urged his fellow Dominican friars to establish and strengthen collaboration.
“All of this, brothers, if we will have one another as our strength, we can be teachers of hope forever,” Ramos said in his homily at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros, Manila.
Ramos paid tribute to the Dominican province, recalling that from the time of the pioneers and founding fathers, it never gave up on the vocation and their hopes for the next generation of Filipino Dominicans.
“We all have our own share of disappointments and disheartening experiences. It was never easy for our pioneering and founding fathers. We know their labors. It was never easy and never smooth-sailing for our elders in their attempt to set up paths and trails,” he said.
‘Preachers of hope’
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Fr. Filemon dela Cruz, Jr., O.P., the prior provincial, said the DPP seeks to become “preachers of hope,” by expanding and deepening collaboration among themselves and outside the Order.
According to Dela Cruz, this was in line with the resolutions of the 13th Provincial Chapter convened in January.
READ: Dela Cruz eyes ‘centers of preaching’ in 2nd term as head of PH Dominicans
Dela Cruz said the province wants to sustain stronger communities through strategic management and further promote vocations.
“[It] is not just about recruitment, it is daily accompanying, taking care of our brothers from the early stage when they enter, to the different stages of life, up to the end,” the Dominican provincial said.
READ: Filipino Dominicans respond to global call for missionaries
The DPP was canonically established on Dec. 8, 1971, as the Order of Preachers’ 41st province worldwide.
It was formally inaugurated by Master of the Order Fr. Aniceto Fernandez, O.P. at Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City.
It marked the formal establishment of a local Filipino province, rooted in the mission of the first Spanish Dominicans in the Philippines that began in 1587.
The DPP is an offshoot of the Spanish Province of the Most Holy Rosary, which had spearheaded the Dominican mission in the Far East for centuries.
Today, the Philippine province exercises its ministry not only in the Philippines but also in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Y.A.R. Osea
