ISA Launches Publications at Spirituality Forum

ISA invited Fr. Eliseo Mercado, Jr. OMI, Ph.D., author of two papers in the anthology and member of  ISA’s International Academic Advisory Board (IAAB), to comment on the papers on the experiences and perspectives of spirituality in communion of five major religious groups.     

“We listened to their talks as representatives of the churches of the Reformation,” he said of Rev. Henry Paul Roa, Bishop Ciriaco Francisco and Rev. Irma Balaba from the Lutheran and  Methodist Churches and of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, respectively.

“We also heard immediate-past Obispo Maximo XXII Ephraim  Fajutagana  discuss the nationalism of the Iglesia Independiente Filipinas ( IFI) and its motto Pro Deo et Patria – a catchy phrase that is simple yet powerful.” 

The IFI is an offshoot of the 1896 revolution against Spain, the colonial power in the Philippines for more than three centuries.

Fr. Mercado pointed out, “We also heard from Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan the good things we have achieved in reaching out for ecumenism.  After 500 years of the Reformation we have turned over a new page in our relationships with other churches and perhaps, we can follow even more Micah 6-8: “God requires nothing but to do justice (misphat), love kindness (chesedh)   and walk humbly (tsanah) with your God.”  

In this publication Fr. Mercado is the author of a lecture on  “Islamic Extremism” and of his reflection-sharing as a member of ISA’s International Academic Advisory Board (IAAB).

Showing slides on the theme “Spirituality of Communion and the Reformation” – including one of Pope Francis embracing the Archbishop of Sweden who, it turns out, is a woman – Fr. Mercado focused on what he called a New Pentecost.

He said, “… All of us will be in Communion, notwithstanding the diversities of churches and confessions. We will be one in faith, hope and love in the Risen Lord and obedient to the Spirit leading to a new Pentecost.” 

This particular material also contains the reflections of Fr. Mercado’s colleagues in the IAAB. Thus, it has a review by Prof. Alfredo Co –  the foremost Sinologist of the Philippines – of the points of the five speakers and the open forum, and his statement that 2017 is a special time to reflect on the meaning of the Reformation and of the way that human frailty drives man to conflicts over religion.

Fr. Daniel Franklin Pilario, CM, professor, and dean of the Saint Vincent School of Theology, spoke on “Communion and Power” where power blocks communion. He cited the examples of Catholics converting other religions, non-Christians or pagans, and of Spain coming to the Philippines in 1521 and converting the people, and of having the power to determine the agenda for outsiders and insiders.

Sr. Maria Anicia B. Co, RVM, president of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines and a scholar on Scripture and the New Testament, spoke on “Language, Meaning and Expressions of Communion.”

Sr. Anne Marie Bos, O.Carm., who is based at the Titus Brandsma Institute in the Netherlands and who has specialized in research on sacred images, offered three reflections, including what she sees as an example of how communion happens in times of suffering:  Blessed Titus Brandsma being jailed for resisting the Nazis in the Netherlands and then inspiring inmate Protestant pastors to testify at the hearings for his beatification.

On Day 3 of the 18th Spirituality Forum, ISA launched  Volume 3 of Living Flame, A Journal of Interdisciplinary Discourse in Spirituality  under the title “Movement of the Spirit.” In his Foreword, ISA Executive Director Fr. Rico Ponce, O. Carm. explained the rationale for the title.  

“We hope this title captures the dynamic movement of spirituality which is alive and at work among individuals and communities and in different situations which badly need transformation. We believe that this title captures the diversity of the articles in terms of approaches, contents, foci, and loci of spirituality …, a multi-layered reality.”

At the launch  Prof. Ramonito Perez, a participant in the 18th Spirituality Forum and a student in the ISA-Southeast Asian Interdisciplinary Development Institute (SAIDI) Ph.D. Program on Organization Development  Major in Transformative Spirituality, represented the nine authors in the journal.  He linked his article “Spirituality of Forbearance: A Response to the New Religious Movements of the 21st Century”  to the theme of ISA’s anthology on the Reformation.  

 He said, “In practicing forbearance as a form of spirituality, we need a conscious effort to see the thread connecting all religions and forming a beautiful garland adorning the Supreme Being, who is neither a Christian nor a Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu or belonging to any of the New Religious Movements. It is acknowledging in the presence of God that we belong to each other as children of God, of the same God.”

Prof. Perez’s fellow writers in  Living Flame 3 include his classmate at the ISA-SAIDI Program: Assumption College of Davao Prof. Rogelio Macatol (“Twisted Bread Spirituality: Essence and Challenges of Lay Spirituality in the Philippine Church and Society”), who also teaches part-time at the Assumption Vocational and Vocational Institute.

In this journal these two Ph.D.  students are joined by their mentors in the ISA-SAIDI Program. One is Fr. Christian Buenafe, O. Carm., the first Prior Provincial of the Order of Carmelites-Philippine Province,  who wrote “Spirituality and the Ministry of Christian Leadership”.

Their other mentors  – Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm. and Dr. Marissa Alcantara (Dean and Assistant Dean, respectively of ISA) – joined Fr. Gabriel Dolotina, O.Carm. (who has served as ISA’s Director for Research and Publications) to write “Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation: Sociological-Theological and Pastoral Perspectives” for Living Flame 3.

Still another author is Dr. Rebecca Cacho, theology professor at St. Scholastica’s College and at De La Salle University as well as teacher at various institutes and formation centers. She contributed “Dakilang Paramdam (God’s Loving Manifestation): Re-reading the Role of the Holy Spirit in the Asian Context”.   

Writing on inter-faith relations between Filipino Muslims and Catholics is Dr. Maria Teresa Guingona-Africa (“Spirituality and Praxis of Dialogue in Promoting Peace and Justice”).

She is founder and executive director of The Peacemakers’ Circle Foundation, Inc.; co-founder of the Loyola School of Theology-based Sacred Springs Dialogue Institute of Spirituality and Sustainability; and professor at the Ateneo de Manila University on the subject Muslim-Christian  Dialogue on Nation-Building and Conflict Transformation for Peace among Religions.

The last article in Living Flame 3 is by Fr. Miceal O’Neill of the Irish Province of the Calced Carmelites. He wrote “St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi – A Saint for Today: The Experience of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi and the Teachings of the II Vatican Council”.

He said, “[Her] most important and relevant contribution today is to the understanding of the meaning of full, active and conscious participation of the faithful, lay and clerical, in the liturgy. Thus, I believe that it is possible to find common ground between Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi and the teachings of the II Vatican Council on such important themes of Christian faith as … contemplation and communication. I see this confluence as good for the Carmelites and for all who wish to see the gift of Vatican II become more and more a part of the life of the Church…”

Living Flame 1 (“Spirit Moves”) won in the ministry category of the 2014 Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards. Living Flame 2.1 (“Discernment of the Spirit”) was a finalist in the spirituality category the following year.  Volume 2.2 is on “Abiding by the Spirit.”  

ISA offered special prices for the two new publications at their launching, but has copies available for purchase at its offices, at publications@isa.org.ph and at book fairs. The next is the 39th Manila International Book Fair set for September  12-16, 2018 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, in Pasay City.

Perla Aragon-Choudhury