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Father Purdy's Letters
Dear Friends and Benefactors, It is with great pleasure I announce to you three young men are being sent to the seminary in Australia. Two of these men are from the Philippines, the third from Japan. It is a very exciting event for the Philippines and the District of Asia. The Society of St. Pius X only has eight Filipino priests and one Japanese priest. Perhaps it is the beginning of more steady fruits of our rather young apostolate in Asia. We send our prayers with them to Australia for their perseverance.
Giovanni Escamilla has been at the Novitiate for nearly two years preparing to go to the seminary. Mr. Escamilla is from Puerto Princessa, Palawan, which is the furthest western island in the Philippines, bordering the South China Sea. Mr. Escamilla has a Maritime degree from John B. Lacson College of Iloilo. Providence has really guided Mr. Escamilla in a wonderful way. It was the 1994 conference of Fr. Schmidberger in Iloilo that first exposed Mr. Escamilla to tradition. He was in Iloilo for his education at John B. Lacson. He learned of this conference through a banner that was put up over the street. The banner said “Open your eyes to the grave errors of Modernism in the Catholic Church – attend the Conference of Fr. Franz Schmidberger, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, Amigo Terrace Hotel”. Strangely enough, Giovanni was a waiter at that hotel and actually worked the conference. Giovanni subsequently received a job as a seaman and spent long periods of time on boats. For this, he was provided with books for the journey and every time he returned to Manila, he received new Traditional Catholic books for the next journey.
Mark Lomod is the second one being sent to the seminary in Australia. Mr. Lomod is from the capitol city of Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol. After graduating with a degree in Philosophy from La Salle University in Manila, he decided to try a vocation. He came to a men’s retreat in December of 2005, after which he entered St. Bernard Novitiate. He has been at the Novitiate for over a year, and is excited about finally going to the seminary. Mr. Lomod came to tradition in 1996 with the first visit of Fr. Couture to Bohol. Mark was not in Bohol for the visit, but in Iloilo for his high school education. After the visit of Fr. Couture, Mark was told by his mother to start attending Mass in the SSPX chapel in Iloilo. This he did for four years. After high school, Mr. Lomod attended university in Manila, where he was also able to attend Mass at Our Lady of Victories Church.
Hiroto Okamura is the third that is being sent off to seminary.
Mr. Okamura prefers to be called by his baptismal name, Maxmillian
Kolbe. Maxmillian is a native of Japan. After spending 11 years
in There are also two young men entering the year of novitiate to begin their religious life. This is equally exciting for us. Both of these young men are due to become novices in March. Ramil Logroño entered St. Bernard Novitiate in June 2005. Mr. Logroño is from Carmen, Bohol, the same place the National Youth Pilgrimage takes us. From his high school he had thought of trying a vocation especially since his cousin was a seminarian. It would have been the normal thing for him to enter the diocesan seminary like his cousin. Having been encouraged by one of his relatives to attend a retreat with the Society, he made his decision to come to St. Bernard Novitiate. The retreat preached by Fr. Saa and Fr. Lester really exposed him to a good solid spirituality, which he knew would be difficult to find elsewhere. Alfonso Saberon entered St. Bernard Novitiate in 1998. At that time he spent just over two years at the Novitiate to try his vocation. However, urged by the the Novice Master to finish his education, Mr. Saberon left the Novitiate. In December 2005, he attended the retreat at the Novitiate and then re-entered the community. Mr. Saberon is a native of General Santos City in southern Mindanao. It was while working in a carpenter shop in Marbel that he found tradition and began to take the practice of his Catholic Faith seriously. His road to tradition was aided by Mrs. Laura Ghela and her son, Fr. Albert Ghela, both from Marbel. Since 1996, Mr. Saberon had been attending the Mass in Marbel, although not regularly. Fr. Vernoy in 1997 invited to him to serve Mass and from that point starting attending every Sunday Mass was offered. Fr. Vernoy also invited him to enter the Apostles of Mary, being one of the ‘first batch’ of members. It was not long after that he started traveling to other cities to accompany the priest and serve Mass. And lastly, the Novitiate welcomes a newly ordained priest Fr. Michael Lavin. He was ordained to the priesthood in December of 2006. A native of Cambridge, New Zealand, he spent all the years of his seminary in Australia. Surely there will be an adjustment period for him in this new place. His apostolate, however, will bring him much joy and edification. We pray for your continued support of our mission here in the Philippines, especially the formation of our the young men into good, holy religious. “Lord, grant us many holy religious vocations.” In the Hearts
of Jesus and Mary,
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