Seeking the True, Good and Beautiful in the Age of Memes, Trolls and Selfie:
The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the New Media Age
The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the New Media Age
In today’s age of digital revolution, which can be described similarly, to what Charles Dickens has said about the French Revolution, “the best of times, the worst of times,” we are propelled into massive transformations—with consequences both good and bad—upon the way we think and act, our values and attitudes. This presentation aims to examine critically the place, challenges and significance of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the new media age. Read the essay
Worship in a Postmodern World
This paper aims to present an outline of Christian worship that is suitable for helping postmodern people connect with God and one another. It will begin by examining some implications of postmodernity to Christian worship. Then it will analyse Christian churches’ response to postmodernity in terms of worship. Finally it will propose some principles and dimensions of a Christian worship relevant to postmodern times. Read the essay
Towards a Framework for Evaluating Prophetic Dialogue in the Mission of the Redemptorist Vice-Province of Manila Today
This paper will venture into an explorative journey of the important issues, principles, factors and questions of prophetic dialogue. The end goal is to devise a framework for measuring prophetic dialogue. This framework will hopefully serve as a guide or roadmap to implementing prophetic dialogue in the mission of the Redemptoristis of the Vice-Province of Manila. Read the paper
Think Globally, Act Locally: A General Evaluation on the Performance of Ecumenism and Inter-Faith Dialogue in the Local Catholic Churches of the Philippines
The popular dictum—“Think globally and act locally”— can also be applied in the life and mission of the Catholic Church. This essay will use this dictum for evaluating the implementation of ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue in the local Catholic Churches in the Philippines. Using this framework, this paper will show how local churches’ very parochial perspective hinders the development of not just ecumenism and interfaith dialogue but also of other global standpoint of the church in the Philippines. Read the essay
The Necessity of the Other in Religion
The members of other religions, the suffering others, those who are marginalized not just in religious terms but in economic, political, social and cultural as well are the outsiders who can be a source of conversion for members of a particular religion. Read the essay
Some Preliminary Reflections on the Location of Interreligious Dialogue in the Mission of the Redemptorist Vice-Province of Manila
This short essay seeks to offer preliminary reflections about the place of interreligious dialogue in the mission of the Redemptorist in the Vice-Province of Manila. Hopefully, this preliminary discussion will trigger further and deeper discussions on the place of interreligious dialogue in Redemptorist mission. Read the essay
Mutual Conversion of Spanish Missionaries and Filipino Natives: Christian Evangelization in the Philippines, 1578 – 1609
Behind the relatively peaceful assimilation of the Philippines by the Spanish conquistadoresthrough Christianity are abundant dynamics of mutual conversion between Spanish missionaries and Filipino natives. In the encounter between Christianity and indigenous religion of the Filipino natives both underwent significant transformation. At the same time there was a dynamic of contradiction: While Christianity was used to the hilt by Spanish missionaries as instrument of hegemony and power it became a medium for resistance and subversion for the Filipino natives. Read the essay
“Mission as Blessing”: An Exegetical and Missiological Examination of Beatitudes in Matthew
Is Matt. 5: 1 – 12, the Beatitudes, a missionary text? More often than not Matt. 5: 1 – 12 is construed in Christological, ecclesiological and ethical terms. The most quoted missionary text from Matthew is the great commission text, Matt 28: 18 – 20 and also the apostolic discourse to the twelve apostles, Matt 10: 5 – 42. By examining Matt 5: 1 – 12, this essay will explore Beatitudes’ missiological idiom and its implications for mission today. Read the essay
Reaction Paper on Mirari Vos
This is a brief reaction essay on Mirari Vos – On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism, the first encyclical issued by Gregory XVI on August 15, 1832, as a denunciation of the liberal issues of the 19th century. Read the essay
How Jesus Came to Kew VIC, Australia, 2009 AD
This is an adaptation and reliving of the novel Joshua by Fr. Joseph Girzone in the context of the sub-urban city of Kew, VIC Australia. Read the essay
“God was Here Even Before Christianity Arrived!” Indigenous Religion Resource to Doing Theology in the Philippines
Any local theology must draw from one’s own wellspring of living tradition. Filipino theology is formed not only by Christian tradition but in indigenous religion as well. This implies a theology that does not only emphasize authority and orthodoxy but also service and solidarity. Doing theology is to go down from hierarchical and institutional set-up in order to listen and to do theology from the perspective of the people. Read the essay
John 4: 28 – 30; 39 – 42: The Witness of the Samaritan Woman – A Call to Proclaim Jesus as Saviour of the World!
This short essay is an exegesis of the Samaritan Woman in John 4. Read the essay
Book Review: Costly Mission: Following Jesus in Neighbourhoods Facing Poverty by Michael Duncan [Michael Duncan, Costly Mission: Following Jesus in the Nebourhoods Facing Poverty, (Springvale, VIC: Urban Neighbors of Hope, 1995).] Read the book review
Bartolome de las Casas: Evangelized by the Indians, Evangelized the Colonizers
This essay is a short biography of the great missionary Bartolome de las Casas. Read the essay
Baclaran Shrine: A Shrine that Magnifies the Lord in Devotion and Mission
This is the cover article of the May-June 2018 edition of Liguorian Magazine in the US.
“My soul magnifies the Lord,” proclaims the Blessed Virgin Mary during her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1: 46). This is the opening words to the now widely acclaimed song of Mary, the Magnificat. Mary whose “soul magnifies the Lord” epitomizes the greatest of human spirit’s rejoicing about God’s goodness. Mary’s utter rejoicing perfectly captures the spirit of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, Philippines … Read more
