Our Three Priests

The bone of priesthood is the total person of the parish priest. How he faithfully personifies the apostleship and cascades the same to his flock resulting to individual spiritual growth is a dream come true.

Another trophy, far ranging from the physical ornaments and structural projects, is the above-average attendance in the Holy Mass everyday not only on Sundays. This harvest is a product of a vibrant and substantial shepherding that makes his church-community stand out among the rest. This is his prayer, his secret longing, the crowning glory and the legacy of his priestly life.

That the priest builds the parish is totally undebatable. A good crowd is evidently a Eucharistic crowd. What keeps it bigger and bigger is the Eucharistic sense, the preaching and the nurturing of such is unceasing and deeply penetrating. His mission is firmed by the day-to-day renewal of faith. Currently, a most distressing challenge our Church is facing is the waning of faith, as gawking as the empty cathedrals and churches in Europe where the bastions of our religion were used to be situated. In our local shores, the threat is real that we need the fervor of our priests to be more intense than ever.

How does a parishioner regard his parish priest? Are we to judge or evaluate him?

When we relate to our fellow mortals we base it on our own terms; it is either that we are pleased or disappointed with the outcome depending on which interest it is catered to. With respect to religious authority it cannot be viewed through human perspective.

Relationship with priests is basically the relationship between man and God. Meaning, there is no popularity contest, no political pulse survey, no dressing down of any worker who serves only one interest – that of God’s.

Towards adulthood, the child is carried on from one lap to another by a long line of mentors. Remember that very striking TV ad? From a toddler to adolescent, the tot grows before our eyes as he is literally cradled from one pair of arm to another. Only when he is about ready by himself is he dutifully disembarked to the ground at the end of the line. The long and winding phalanx of teachers are accountable for the assembly line of professionals and responsible, yet productive members of the society.

The same tribute we would like to partake about our priests. In our lifetime after a hundred or so teachers are indispensable for our younger years, we get to identify ourselves with one or two priests in the later and longer period of our life’s journey. Whatever parish you were born into or brought up with and wherever parish you end up finally, there is only one priest you can call your own – your parish priest. After the partying, the show time and the worldly prime life you have had, comes the pilgrimage. And if ever your priest is a godsend you are bound for each other like the way you destined yourself to Jesus Christ like “you in Him and Him in you”. Once we get to the pre-departure area, we shall have asked ourselves and hopefully found the answer to the question: “Lord to whom shall we go?” and which better companion we would like to be with than our dear parish priest?

It is not on the hot seat we are going to nail into our three priests namely, Fr. Leonardo “Bong” A. Dublan, Jr., Fr. Erwin Torres and Fr. Ronald B. Arcilla.

In fact with a lens, we will magnify them up close and personal with their frocks on and without it.

FATHER BONG DUBLAN

Fr. Bong walks the talk. Being the Head Parish Priest of the ASCENCION OF THE LORD PARISH in Matina for 9 years now, he not only calls the shots and undertakes the grueling tasks of a no-nonsense administrator of a dynamic parish, he pivots in all aspects of his mission adequately well.

The elevated mound on which our church is erected was ready to give in anytime because the dike-wall has weakened and leaned dangerously towards the main road. A landslide could happen if no massive reconstruction of the wall could take place immediately. Now the structure to hold firm the land mass and the building proper has been made sturdier, thicker and lengthier than the original. Today an imposing frontage of the church becomes part of the make-over including the completion of the construction of other building annexes. The parish compound is almost complete as per blueprint and plan. The interior with function rooms, cubicles and facilities is the pride of the parishioners. Details like landscaping and parking will complete the total outlook any day soon. The crux of the matter was the funding and finance. Close to the heels was the staging of the 2 GiG last year (or P2 Million Gift to God Before Christmas). Strategic and time-driven, other unique qualities of the project was its innovativeness, creativity and smartness. It was highly organized, widely participated, closely monitored and logistically supported. The outcome: the P2M goal was overshot in record time. Fr. Bong rightfully gave credits to the talents, the human resources and everybody in the community for the support and success of the fund raising and most of all to the Divine Providence. There are a lot more of this kind to run a gamut of high performances. But he’d rather be low-profiled.

For those who tune to him well, their anticipation is rewarded by the time he shows to the altar. His voice assures them of a full and rich homily. His followers would not feel the length of his reflection owing to the wisdom that soothes, a challenge that provokes, the love that endures, the joy that lingers, the fury that destroys. Or his extemporaneous third person dialogue propped up with subtle sarcasm and hard-hitting parody that never fails to land a jab. Fr. Bong knows when to strike the womenfolk where they are least prepared. It was a good-natured poke-fun on the housewives’ weakness over telenovelas. At one time, they were caught delightfully embarrassed when Fr. Bong sheepishly expressed his discovery about their avid following of AVL’s turn-around to become God’s disciple. At the same time they were pleasantly surprised that their dear parish priest is also secretly updated (actually, he employed this trick as his comic device). Fr. Bong’s brand of humor leaves a faint smile or a burst of laughter to his gospel listeners.

He thinks people find him hard to be penetrated. But his unguarded moment bespeaks otherwise. He banters with his associates during lull moments. One time he picked on Louie who gamefully challenged him to a horseplay (the boy was the apple of the eyes during our pilgrim trip to the Holy Land). Fr. Bong intimated that he may not be as compassionate as he would wish to be but his friends approach him in some casual way, no inhibition.

His evangelization and servant personality speak loudly. Contrary to his reverent and rigid look he, during our group tour, good-naturedly and without ado assumed the waiter’s role in serving everybody with bottled water and foodstuff, roll-calling everybody all the way, giving away the best slot to the needy, always at the rear to watchdog youngsters, stubborn senior citizens, shopping addicts and the slow foot. We could sense his pathos and concern to members who have health issues and helpless youth who deserve every good break.

Who would otherwise be the man of the hour to have instituted the time-and-motion leadership in carrying out the Tacloban relief operation of the Davao Archdiocese? The bulk was as enormous as the mandatory dedication which Fr. Bong, who is the perennial Diocesan Social Action Center coordinator, undertook including personally bringing the tons of donation in a caravan from Davao to Leyte. Not only that he institutes the basic functionaries of his direct constituency, he performs as well what is tasked of him in the larger community outside of his own.

With the consecrated life he is living, I search for the word that would aptly describe Fr. Bong and I am glad I found it: pastoral.

FATHER ERWIN TORRES

Fr. Erwin is our guest priest. He has a professorial stint at the Ateneo de Davao University at present, a son of Surigao del Sur, and has stayed in Davao City for 5 years on account of his ailing mother whom he had monitored at Davao Doctors Hospital.

Fr. Erwin has won over the faithfuls more than ever, so much so that a good number from the audience are virtually turned into members of his “fans club”. He ends up delivering to them more than their fair share of the daily scriptures. Talking about an expertise, a dominion, a bailiwick, Fr. Erwin handles his like no other. The homily is his turf. He fits into this department like a glove.

God has planted him beautifully in the pulpit.

His piece of the altar becomes a platform wherein he accounts biblical episodes and events as timely as today’s headlines. He translates ancient and sublime dialogues and parables to the comprehension of his varied audience by adapting colloquial and street talk. When he goes highbrow and trips into highfalutin phraseology, he takes pain in taming it down to the equivalent down-to-earth meaning. In the process, new vocabulary is introduced and wrong pronunciation is corrected (like “tabernacle” is accented on the first syllable). He is very good at addressing the contemporary crowd and electronic youngsters with his “OMG!” with matching rolling eyeballs. He has a way with words that one admirer said he can kill you with his prose and send you fits of laughter the way he caricaturizes anyone. He brings out profanity and vulgar characters and expression without being scandalous but instead gains affirmation and humor from the hollowed crowd. He bulges his eyes for comic relief and in one fascinating chapter in the Exodus, he tiptoed his small frame and stretched his arms to the fullest, his cloak fluffing, to dramatize the split of the giant and roaring waves to make way for the Israelites. Suddenly Moses came alive as he signaled the Red Sea to close in and in the process swallowed the battalions of Egyptian soldiers on their chariots under the command of the pharaoh to make chase after the fleeing children of Israel. Fr. Erwin’s body language could easily qualify him for a plum role in a Jesus Christ Superstar Broadway opera. He seems musically inclined. He could be the male version of the Whoopi Goldberg movie Sister Act, this time with an Asian flavor.

Definitely, his stage presence never put the readings and the gospel in the back seat. He sees to it that they are connected to bring home the point of impact and divinity of God and His message. He conditions the parishioners with the flow and focus of the sermon, the continuity of the theme, the timeline of the various eras in the old and new testaments. Fr. Erwin assures everybody that the Bible is rich in figures of speech and laden with allusions and paradoxes that one does not have to be nosy and intellectual to wade through it. The patience and joy needed to capture and embrace it comes in a process of faith. Fr. Erwin delivers it compact and succinct.

How is he outside the parish and academic halls where he is often seen minding his speaking business? He is a sought-after soulmate to any nerd, cosmopolitan, artist, traditionalist, puritan, bohemian, yuppie, intellectual and pseudo-intellectual alike. He starts with anything and ends up with something. But why does he seem distant, congenial but detached?

A lot of people think Fr. Erwin could have not been better off than where he is right now. His loving departed mother must have had no perfect wish than his sacerdotal destiny. There must be no such thing as a freelance priest but many in the Ascencion parish wish he could stay a bit longer.

Anyway, Fr. Erwin rocks!

FATHER RONALD B. ARCILLA

Being the Assistant Priest and second in command in the parish, Fr. Ronald should have the second billing treatment. Anyway, attitude problem is the farthest of a thought about him. Fr. Ronald had been one of the three subjects of this composition and when it was ready for readership, he has already exited from the parish to his second assignment of the same rank at the SACRED HEART PARISH in Bo. Obrero. He still lingers in the hearts of the parishioners, hence this fond inclusion (the new triumvirate of our Ascencion Parish now includes Fr. Reyjie Penecios who took over him).

Ever heard of a humbling voice? That is Fr. Ronald to you — very condescending. For one so young, he already has that singularity — an affable and convincing tone truly his own. Without his vestment on, he becomes one of the boys. You could feel the sweat in him as he quickly switches to his priestly garment after a round of basketball dribbling. It is a joy to see how he rightfully integrates sports and spirituality; no wonder the youth abounds and punctuates the right places and moments in our parish.

Fr. Ronald regards his modest experience as his asset although, he avows, it may not be as vast and grand as the ones prominently lived by others. He takes pride of his peasant upbringing in an underprivileged town and the loving attitude of his humble folks. It is notable how new learning excites him like his first airplane flight, like his awe and gratitude to have been a part of the audience to Pope Francis and most of all the fateful destiny carved out by God to someone like him. It takes him to bring freshness to a commonplace. Such simplicity and disarming naiveté you would not take away from him and make you wish him for more luck to come.

Nobody in the archipelago foregoes the familiar final refrain of gratitude at the end of his missal to the servants of the Eucharist, namely: the extraordinary ministers of communion, the lectors and commentators, the altar servers, the gift gatherers, the music ministry, the projector operator.

If someone ever does that, that must be Fr. Ronald.

(Fr. Reyjie Penesios must be wondering how this writer obtained some bio-trivia about him without seeing him yet. A consequential trip landed me, of all places, to his ancestors’ cradle in Loon, Bohol. My bungled timetable brought me ahead of my scheduled graduation from being an aspirant to the next level as associate in the Living the Gospel Community timed with their 41st foundation celebration last September 8th in Cebu City. My fellow Davao associates hoped that I would bite their invitation to tag along them in their Bohol side-trip which turned out to be most pleasurable. It was an occasion for me to savor the fabled parochial Pinoy hospitality, not to mention the mouth-watering fiesta dining prepared by the Dodong Catayas household. Our topic trailed from the earthquake aftermath and was made more spirited when I requested for some tuba which to me Loon offered as best. I was tickled when caught literally red by Nits Albaran’s selfie camera along with the Llenero and Panimdim couples and Rocelen Catayas who composed my fun-filled respite from my previous corporate world. Furthermore what made it providential is our topic on priests and then Fr. Reyjie’s items filled my notes fed by his relatives: the Apostles of Jesus Crucified congregation in Ula, Tugbok sent him to the neighboring St. Francis Xavier College Seminar in Catalunan Grande from where after a year in 2004 he was sponsored to finish up his priesthood curriculum at the University of Santa Croce run by the Oppus Dei in Rome. His 7-year study and formative stint in Rome was capped by his ordination in 2011 by one Cardinal Francisco Monterisi. While waiting approval of his diocesan priesthood he took further studies back in Rome in 2013 and 2014. Prior to his present assignment here in Ascencion Parish, he has been to St. FRANCIS QUASI PARISH in Buhangin for more than a year.)

No doubt, every priest aims to deliver a knock-out homily. Indeed an ample preparation is essential but the plasma power is derived somewhere else. Lest we forget, no one under the divine covenant should feel complimented after every bravo delivery because the Holy Spirit is the one responsible. Nor any neophyte priest for that matter should feel the cold feet for his blessed vocation tightens his shoes. As to the audience, there is no such thing as discriminate listeners, only enlightened parishioners.

Our priests are likewise subjected to low-down moments. In fact there is a need of an extra-tiered spiritual canopy over and around them to fend from the unceasing evil onslaught. This shield is also meant to be shared with their flock or ward, meaning us, to stave us off from sin. These wear-and-tear makes us all vulnerable especially they who can only comply that we “ain’t heavy” to carry. To emphasize the need for reinforcement Pope Francis requests everyone he meets to pray for him (he who even has a pipeline to the Almighty does not only ask it for himself but for all the apostles and priests of today).

Achieving holiness in our secular lives does not come easy. It takes a day to day struggle with pressures, provocation, depression, guilt, distress, pangs, regrets and most of all temptations coming in bundle to us all. Deep inside us we know that at the end of the day Faith will conquer all these and it is convenient to realize that the armor comes in a form of joy even at the face of the bitterest challenge. Our priests have to reckon with their own adversaries, inside and outside of both worlds. Indeed their load is no less heavy; they are torn between heaven and earth. It is not a matter of living harmoniously as citizen of both dimension nor a matter of being “human” and “holy” but it is a matter of manifesting the universal goodness and modeling the habit of transcending to the midst of God with the kind of existence redeemed by Christ’s death and resurrection.