Monday, August 31, 2009

Fifty years working with students in Cambridge


By Dwight Duncan in the Pilot

Fifty years is a long time. Fifty years ago, I was about to enter third grade in Rockville, Maryland. (I’m 58 now.) Newly-elected Pope John XXIII suddenly announced in late January 1959 that he was convoking an ecumenical council, Vatican II, to begin in the early Sixties. Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts was gearing up for his successful run for president the following year. And on Follen Street in Cambridge, a block north of Cambridge Common and a couple of blocks away from Harvard Law School, the first Mass was celebrated at Elmbrook Student Center on Sept. 15, 1959.

Elmbrook is a corporate apostolate of Opus Dei, the Catholic prelature dedicated to fostering the search for holiness through daily work and the Christian’s ordinary duties. When I was an undergrad decades ago, the Harvard Crimson published an article about Elmbrook entitled “Holiness North of the Common.” While the title may have been intended ironically, at least the quest for holiness in ordinary secular life at Elmbrook is completely sincere. Since its founding, countless Boston-area college and graduate students have frequented Elmbrook for study, prayer and friendship. I should know, as I lived there from 1970 until 1973, and again from 1987 to the present--a quarter of a century (and half of Elmbrook’s existence)--so I’m hardly a disinterested observer.

Much has happened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Catholic Church, and the United States since those last days of the Fifties: the turbulent Sixties, the assassination of President Kennedy, Vatican II, Harvard student strikes, M.I.T. hacks, 9/11, and several wars and economic downturns. Throughout all that time, in a quiet but effective way, Elmbrook Student Center has been offering students an atmosphere conducive to cultivating both professionalism and the faith. We continue to have a weekly meditation for college men (a spiritual conference preached by our chaplain), circles or practical classes in Christian life, and student get-togethers with professors and area professionals.

College and grad school can be a challenging and difficult time in the lives of students, perhaps more so at places like Harvard and M.I.T., and other Boston-area colleges and universities. An oasis like Elmbrook for refreshing heart and soul has been a boon for many. I know it has been for me.

Joffe: Intrigued to dramatize Escriva's liberating view

By Nicole Neroulias, in Nola.com

Three years after "The Da Vinci Code" sent Opus Dei scrambling to counter the film's depiction of a masochistic, murderous cabal, members of the Catholic organization have cautious hopes for a biopic of their founding father, St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.

''There Be Dragons," which is currently filming in Argentina, is helmed by Oscar-nominated director Roland Joffe, whose previous works include "The Mission" and "The Killing Fields." The film is produced by Ignacio G. Sancha, an Opus Dei member who stresses that the film's $30 million budget comes from a range of investors, including several atheists.

''There are all kinds of ideologies and people involved," he said. "I think this movie would be much less interesting if someone attached to the church was to do it."

Founded in Spain in 1928, Opus Dei (Latin for "work of God") has more than 80,000 members worldwide, most of them lay people who are drawn to its message of finding spirituality in secular life. While members have helped secure financing for the film and serve as on-set consultants, an earlier screenplay that was written by a former nun was shelved for one penned by Joffe, a self-described agnostic.

Even so, the project has excited many Opus Dei members, who see it as a chance to set the Hollywood record straight while honoring their founder.

''It's obviously not going to be another 'Da Vinci Code,' but you really don't know until you actually see it," said Brian Finnerty, the U.S. spokesman for Opus Dei.

''But, I'm hopeful there are some good possibilities here. So much of St. Josemaria's message has great potential appeal -- finding God in everyday life, love for freedom, respect for all people, regardless of political differences."

Joffe, who said he initially shied away from the project, said he was ultimately intrigued by the chance to dramatize the life of a modern-day saint, particularly considering Escriva's "liberating" view that a path to God could be found in an ordinary life.

To read the rest of the article, please see Nola.com.

Friday, August 28, 2009

There be Dragons: About human and divine love


By Mark Pattison in CNS

Filming has begun in Argentina on a biography of St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. The movie, "There Be Dragons," is expected to be released in the summer or fall of 2010.

And, likening it to his own creative freedom, Roland Joffe said St. Josemaria "made no attempt to influence the people he worked with in terms of their politics." The director spoke at an Aug. 23 press conference in Argentina that was conducted in English, Spanish and Portuguese; U.S. reporters were allowed to listen in.

"At that time, that's pretty heroic. That's a time when almost all human beings were faced with making extraordinary choices," he said.

Charlie Cox, whose past film credits include "Stardust" and "Casanova," plays the priest. Wes Bentley, who had parts in "Ghost Rider" and "American Beauty," plays Manolo, a friend of Josemaria's who goes in and out of his life. Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko, who has acted in "Quantum of Solace," "Hitman" and "Max Payne," plays Ildiko, a Hungarian woman who casts her lot with the Republican movement, which falls to the Francisco Franco-led rightist rebels.

Other actors in "There Be Dragons" include Dougray Scott, Geraldine Chaplin, Derek Jacobi and Charles Dance.

"We found ourselves making a film about love -- human love and divine love. About hate -- which I guess is human -- about betrayal and mistakes," Joffe said. Further, "I don't know if there's anybody who wants to live his life without meaning. So it's also a story about people trying to find meaning about their lives, and that's a powerful kind of story."

"I've been to many Opus Dei centers, and met many Opus Dei members (in doing research for the movie). And I've yet to encounter anything odd-seeming," said Cox. "I've been brought up a Catholic. I'm not a great practicing Christian. I've been to church infrequently, but I've never stopped going."

Cox added there is "an inner journey I've been going on during this film. I don't know where it will lead. My relationship with the Catholic Church and with God has certainly been profoundly affected for the better throughout this process," he added.

To read the rest of the article, please see The Catholic Spirit

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Joy of Giving to Those Who Cannot Give Back


In Social Initiatives of the Opus Dei website

While summer is synonymous with TV reruns and midnight burritos for many high school students, fourteen girls from around the US gathered in Boston this summer to spend part of their vacation in service. Service in the City is a program for high school women that engages them in community service opportunities around the city, and teaches that true citizenship starts in everyday life among family and friends.

This year the girls spent many hours every day volunteering at different charitable organizations: playing with children at the Salvation Army day care; performing a talent show at the Vernon Hall nursing home in Cambridge; compiling clothing packages at Cradles to Crayons, an organization in North Quincy dedicated to providing children with the necessary items they need to flourish. After a full day around Boston, the high school girls returned to the residence in Back Bay for workshops on topics like human dignity, moral personality, identity and freedom.

When asked for the themes they thought inspired Service in the City, the participants volunteered: Love. Friendship. Perseverance. Service. Dignity. Respect. As one explained, “Service is not only work, but also the way you interact with the people you are working for.”

Service in the City is sponsored by Bayridge Residence, a student residence for young women in Boston’s Back Bay and a corporate apostolate of Opus Dei. Bayridge residents Emily Austin, a doctoral student at Boston University, and Helen Keefe, an undergraduate at Harvard, organized and led this year’s program.

“The goal is that these girls go back home with a greater sense of love and responsibility for those around them, manifested in little deeds of service,” said Emily, director of Service in the City. “I know we’re succeeding when one girl tells me that after her experience washing dishes at Rosie’s Place, a resource center for homeless women in Roxbury, she wants to work on not complaining at home when it’s her turn to do the dishes.”

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

AP issues correction on its story on Escriva

By Entertainment Daily

In an Aug. 24 story about a biopic of Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the film is being financed by the Catholic organization. The film’s investors include Opus Dei members, but the organization itself is not funding the film, according to Opus Dei spokesman Brian Finnerty.

The story also said the Roman Catholic Church dismissed the allegation that Escriva spoke positively of Adolf Hitler. It should have specified the source of the allegation — former Opus Dei member Father Vladimir Feltzman — and also noted Escriva’s repeated condemnations of Nazi ideology.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Opus Dei has many left-wingers

In Wikipedia Talk Page

* Ruth Kelly - Secretary of State for Transport, Labour Party (traditionally center-left) in the United Kingdom. John L. Allen, Jr. states that she is a supernumerary member in his book, Opus Dei.
* Paola Binetti - Senator-elect in Italy (2006). A numerary member. Binetti belongs to a party -- La Margherita (“The Daisy”) -- which includes Christian Democrats, Socialists, Greens and even some ex-Communists.
* Antonio Fontán - President of the Senate of Spain in 1977-1979. A journalist who advocated free elections and trade unions, and was persecuted by Franco. He helped draft Spain's new democratic constitution after Franco.
* Alberto Ullastres Calvo (d. 2001) - Minister of Trade (1957-1965). He is one of the members of Opus Dei who were appointed by Franco as ministers (Spain under Franco). He pushed forward the so called Plan of Stabilization which brought about Spain's transition from economic autarchy to liberalization and internationalization of the national economy.
* Jesus Estanislao - Secretary of Economic Planning and subsequently Finance Secretary of the Philippines under Corazon Aquino (1989-1992), who toppled the dictatorial government of Ferdinand Marcos. A numerary member of Opus Dei, who started Opus Dei in the Philippines.
* Squire Lance - a civil rights leader, called by the Spectator, "granddaddy of Civil Rights in Obama's own Chicago." He is a Democrat.
* Jorge Rossi Chavarría was the Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1971-1974. He co-founded the National Liberation Party (PLN), a social democrat party. He was a supernumerary of Opus Dei.
* Felipe González de Canales is a co-founder of a system of agriculture schools and rural development centers called Escuelas Familiares Agrarias (Agrarian Family Schools) which has 30 schools in Spain and has influenced 68 other agricultural schools in other parts of the world. He is also the founder of two trade unions. He is an associate member of Opus Dei.

Even theologians who are working on social issues:

* Joseph de Torre is a social and political philosopher. He has written a number of works on social ethics and Catholic social teaching.[9]
* Enrique Colom was a contributing editor of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church made by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Card. Van Thuan International Observatory which promotes Catholic social teaching internationally.

Opus Dei's powerful intercessor

By Josephine Darang in Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHEN Conrad Ricafort, information director of Opus Dei in the Philippines, gave me the history of Servant of God Montserrat Grases, I didn’t know that she was such a powerful intercessor. She helped me in many ways, especially when I prayed for the healing of a friend of mine. Montserrat, or Montse for short, was an Opus Dei numerary in Barcelona, Spain. She suffered from Ewing’s sarcoma and died March 26, 1959. She was only 18 years old.

Immediately after her death, people started praying for her intercession. Testimonies of healing reached the Prelature of Opus Dei in Rome. Information bulletins on her life and prayer cards were printed in different languages. In the Philippines, prayer cards are in English, Cebuano and Filipino.

Ewing’s sarcoma

“Ewing’s sarcoma” is a malignant round cell tumor. It is a rare disease in which cancer cells are found in the bone or soft tissue. It affects the pelvis, femur, humerous and the ribs.

Montse must have been in a lot of pain, but she offered it all to God. On March 8, 1959, she received the anointing of the sick. The cause for her canonization was submitted to Rome on Dec. 19, 1962. On May 15, 1992, the Sacred Congregation of the Causes of Saints issued a decree declaring the validity of the process of her canonization.

Her mortal remains were transferred to Bonaigue Residence Hall in Barcelona.

Monday, August 24, 2009

A beacon of hope in troubled times

Taken from Clerical Whispers

Devotees of St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, travelled from all over Ireland this week for the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the saint’s visit to Cahir in County Tipperary almost 50 years ago.

On August 18th 1959 the then Fr Escrirva visited the South Tipperary town on a tour of Ireland and passed through a number of other villages on route to Cork. This week a bronze plaque designed by Dublin based artist Dony MacManus was unveiled at the local library in the square in Cahir.

Speaking at the event Commemorative Committee chairperson Pat Maher claimed that Cahir is the only town in the country to mark the 50th anniversary of his coming to Ireland. Mr Maher added that Saint Josemaria was the ‘Saint of the century’ and, ‘a beacon of hope in these troubled times.’

Following the unveiling Mr Maher read a letter from Monsignor Javier Echevarria the current Opus Dei prelate based in Rome.

He was unable to attend the ceremony but said he was with them in spirit. He sent a collection of Opus Dei works to the Cahir Library.

He said that St Escriva’s visit to Cahir in 1959 left lasting memories and he hoped the new plaque would help people hear the message of St Josemaria as time goes by.

A well-placed friend

By Mary Claire Kendall in Envoy Magazine. References to Blessed Josemaria were changed to Saint Josemaria.

When I was a young child, my parents, on a few special occasions, invited a priest of Opus Dei over to our home for dinner with our family. Those dinners bring back the fondest memories, marked as they were by the warmth and light — human, intellectual and spiritual — which the priests of Opus Dei possess.

Founded in 1928, by Father Josemaria Escrivá de Balaguer, Opus Dei provides a path by which lay people can achieve sanctity in the middle of the secular world. Where, two centuries earlier, St. Francis of de Sales preached a way to holiness based on spiritualizing one’s material life, Escrivá taught that the vast majority of lay people could achieve sanctity by materializing the spiritual life. In other words: wherever you work — in the lab, factory, academy, courtroom, at a computer, or at a podium giving the State of the Union Address — sanctity is realized by doing one’s work with the greatest human perfection, for the love of God. In this way, you are performing opus Dei — the “work of God.”

The late Father Josemaria (...) is now known as Saint Josemaria, beatified in 1992, [and canonized in 2002]. Accounts of his intercession are many. He has the Lord’s ear, and has given me the benefit of that closeness.

St. Josemaria emphasized the importance of the sacraments as means of grace. He placed particular emphasis on the sacrament of reconciliation, by which the human tendency to put one’s own will and pleasure before those of God is gradually rooted out. So, it’s not surprising to me that of all the things I have prayed to St. Josemaria about, the conversion of lost sheep through confession are the prayers which the Lord has answered.

As an example, let me tell you about Michael: an elderly gentleman who lived near our family when I was growing up. He was fastidious about his landscaping — lawn, shrubbery and plants were cared for meticulously. But, Michael, a fallen away Catholic, was not so meticulous in his spiritual life. He left the Church as a teen, after a bad experience with a priest in confession.

My family was so blessed with the riches of the Faith. Why, I thought, couldn’t Michael share in this? He would be so much happier! Why couldn’t he see?

After Msgr. Escrivá died in 1975, I saw my big chance to help bring about a change of heart. Convinced of St. Josemaria’s closeness to God, I immediately began to pray through his intercession for Michael’s conversion.

Three years later, on the first Sunday of August 1978, my parents were having one of their rare conversations with Michael and his wife. Ironically, they were talking about the Church, the pope and the line of succession. Later that day, Michael’s wife told my father she had just heard in a special news bulletin that Pope Paul VI had died. My father told her, “You know, Michael is going to die one day too.” Shortly afterward, Michael told my father he wanted to go to confession. My father arranged for Father Ron Gillis, a priest of Opus Dei, to come to Michael’s home and hear his confession — seventy years after that bad experience as a teen. A few months later, Michael died at the age of eighty-seven.

Because I had prayed for Michael, the effect of his conversion on my own faith was profound. I had prayed for this intention, believing that it would happen, and it did! Indeed, that conversion is my insurance policy that faith is real. The Lord does work in our lives; and those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, can intercede for us.

I have also prayed for the conversion of other souls — with equal results. Currently, I am working on the toughest nut of them all. Another priest of Opus Dei — Fr. C. John McCloskey — told me he “will be here waiting” for my friend, that my prayers “will bring him in.”

Michael’s conversion convinced me of the truth of those words.

Women of Opus Dei: I greatly enjoyed it

By Serendipity in Catholic Answers Forum

I recently read "Women of Opus Dei," and greatly enjoyed it. Highly recommend it to women and men who want to know more about Opus Dei from real people living in the world today.

I am very appreciative of all that Opus Dei offers the Catholic community at large, especially evenings of recollection and spiritual direction, irrespective of whether people are Opus Dei.

Currently, I always carry "Friends of God," a collection of Fr. Escriva's homilies around with me, to use it for spare moments of reflection during the day. Thus far, I have found all the writing of Opus Dei members to be extremely erudite and edifying, culling wisdom from the cream of all Catholic spirituality: Scripture, Fathers of the Church, popes, saints, and hallmarks from all Catholic spiritual perspectives - Carmelites, Franciscan, Benedictine, Dominican, Jesuit ect.

I am presently discerning whether I have a vocation as an associate or numerary.

So straightforward and poetic at the same time

By Hey Detroit in Catholic Answers Forum

I've been reading The Way and I'm about half way through it so far.

I love how St. Josemaria is so straightforward and poetic at the same time.

I've been trying to incorporate what he says into my own life and I have seen positive results.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Bringing a Saint’s Life to the Screen


By Laura Goodstein in New York Times

The film director Roland Joffé, who has yet to regain the acclaim he won a generation ago for “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission,” is shooting a movie in Argentina focused on the founder of Opus Dei.

The film, “There Be Dragons,” set during the Spanish Civil War, weaves fictional characters created by Mr. Joffé with the story of St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei and was canonized by the church.

The project was initiated by a member of Opus Dei, is partly produced and financed by the group’s members and has enlisted an Opus Dei priest to consult on the set. News of the project has set off criticism among some former Opus Dei members that the movie will be little more than propaganda for the organization. But Mr. Joffé, in the first interview he has given about the film, said that he had been given complete creative control and that Opus Dei never had any influence on the project.

He ditched the script he was originally given, he said, because he did not want to make what he called a “biopic” about Escrivá’s life. But, he added, he was intrigued by Escrivá’s ideas about the power of forgiveness and the capacity of every human being for sainthood. Opus Dei — the name is Latin for work of God — teaches that ordinary work can be a path to sanctity if the believer maintains a demanding regimen of religious practices intended to achieve holiness.

“I was very interested in the idea of embarking on a piece of work that took religion seriously on its own terms and didn’t play a game where one approached religion denying its validity,” Mr. Joffé said.

When pressed, he called himself a “wobbly agnostic” but added, “I do believe that rigid atheism is a rather intellectually short-sighted position.”

The Opus Dei members behind the project were delighted to enlist Mr. Joffé, whose reputation was that of a political leftist who made films that asked profound ethical questions.

In the 1980s Mr. Joffé was nominated for Academy Awards as best director for “The Killing Fields,” about the genocidal war in Cambodia, and “The Mission,” about Jesuit missionaries who try to defend a South American tribe from Portuguese slave traders. But his career has sputtered since, with movies like “The Scarlet Letter” and “Captivity,” a horror movie, earning him nominations for the Golden Raspberry Awards, which honor the worst of the film industry.

Mr. Joffé’s portrayal of Escrivá’s actions during the 1930s is likely to be provocative, especially in Europe. Some historians have accused Escrivá of collaborating with Franco. Mr. Joffé said he concluded after doing extensive research that Escrivá had been eager to avoid doing anything that would jeopardize the church’s position in Spain.

“Josemaría himself left Spain, and basically stayed out, and my sense is that he didn’t agree with and didn’t want to get involved in politics at the time,” he said.

Opus Dei has received tremendous publicity in recent years, most of it negative, from “The Da Vinci Code,” the 2003 novel by Dan Brown, and the 2006 movie based on the book. In both, Opus Dei, which claims more than 80,000 priest and lay members worldwide, is portrayed as a murderous cult whose members flog themselves with whips and wear barbed chains around their thighs.

Some members do practice what they call a mild form of “corporal mortification.” But what has made the group even more an object of suspicion is that some of its members do not readily identify themselves as such, and occupy influential positions in business, politics and other professions.

Heriberto Schoeffer, an independent film producer in Los Angeles and a member of Opus Dei, said he first conceived of a film dramatizing the life of Escrivá after reading a book about his escape over the Pyrenees during the Spanish Civil War. “All I wanted is for people to see a good side of him, because so many bad things are said about him and Opus Dei,” Mr. Schoeffer said.

With financing from a friend who is also an Opus Dei member, Mr. Schoeffer contracted a screenwriter, Barbara Nicolosi, a former nun and conservative Catholic who started a training program for Christians in Hollywood. She said in an interview that it took her two years, and three research trips to Spain, to write the script, an “Indiana Jones adventure story about a guy who was motivated by Jesus.”

Mr. Schoeffer said that he showed the script to Hugh Hudson, the director of “Chariots of Fire,” who thought the screenplay “smelled pro-Franco, so he didn’t want to do it,” and then brought it to Alejandro González Iñárritu, the Mexican director whose films include “Babel” and “21 Grams,” who found it too complicated.

Mr. Joffé also turned it down initially, but he said he reconsidered after he saw video of Escrivá answering a question from a Jewish girl who wanted to convert to Catholicism. Escrivá told her that she should not convert, because it would be disrespectful to her parents. “I thought this was so open-minded,” Mr. Joffé said.

In writing the new script, Mr. Joffé came up with a convoluted plot in which a young journalist discovers that his estranged father has a long-buried connection to Escrivá.

To perform research, Mr. Joffé traveled to South America, Spain and Italy. Mr. Schoeffer, who has since left the project, said they met in Rome with two prominent members of Opus Dei: Joaquín Navarro-Valls, who was the Vatican spokesman under Pope John Paul II, and the Rev. John Wauck, a priest who is a professor of literature and communication of the faith at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, in Rome. (Father Wauck is now the on-set adviser).

The British actor Charlie Cox (“Stardust”) plays Escrivá, and Wes Bentley (“American Beauty”) plays the journalist’s father. The ensemble cast also includes Derek Jacobi and Geraldine Chaplin.

The financing of about $30 million came from about 100 investors, and raising it was a struggle, said Ignacio G. Sancha, the lead producer, a Spanish financier and lawyer who is also a member of Opus Dei.

The film’s backers are not avoiding controversy, and may even be anticipating it. They have hired Paul Lauer, the publicist for Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” another religious epic with a no-name cast and a big-name director, which cashed in on all the attention it generated.

"Love Sacrifice, Love the Cross, Love Pain"


By John Jansen in Catholic Dads. Written on the Feast Day of St. Josemaria. John is Co-Director of Generations for Life.

I've been looking for quotes from [St. Josemaria] to post on Facebook throughout the day as a way of exposing more people to his great writings (and ultimately, one hopes, to help bring them to a deeper relationship with Our Lord and His Church).

Here is one counsel of his I came across today for the first time:

Love sacrifice; it is a fountain of interior life. Love the Cross, which is an altar of sacrifice. Love pain, until you drink, as Christ did, the very dregs of the chalice.

This is one of those pieces of advice that illustrates with absolutely clarity why, in the midst of our world, really and truly following Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate alternative lifestyle—and, yea, the only one worth living.

As shocking as it sounds, we are indeed called to love pain, for in doing so we unite ourselves to Jesus.

Jesus loved; so too must we love if we want to be like Him. Jesus served; so too must we serve if we want to be like Him. Jesus suffered pain and humiliation; so too must we suffer pain and humiliation if we want to be like Him.

These words of St. Josemaria particularly struck me because I just recently finished reading The Soul of the Apostolate (which, btw, I highly recommend). Therein, the author, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, lists nine "levels" of the interior life, ranging from "hardened in sin" to "complete sanctity". The latter, he says, have an "ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations".

At this point in my life, I cannot say I have an ardent thirst for sufferings and humiliations. But, please God, some day I will.

And, please God, some day we all will.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cardinal of Boston blogs about his get-together with Opus Dei numeraries


By Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Cardinal Sean's blog. He is the only cardinal with a blog.

Saturday morning we went to Arnold Hall, a retreat center in Pembroke, for a Mass and visit with the members of Opus Dei.

During my visit, I had a chance speak with Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, as well as Msgr. Thomas Bohlin, who is Vicar of Opus Dei for the U.S., and Father Peter Armenio from Chicago.

After that meeting, I celebrated Mass for a group of young men who are taking their summer courses at Arnold Hall. These are men who are numeraries of Opus Dei, laymen who have made commitments to live in a manner that will help them witness their faith to the people they meet in the course of their daily lives. Most of them are college students, graduate students and young professionals. It was very impressive to see how many vocations Opus Dei has.

The priests for Opus Dei are chosen out of the numeraries. They do not have a seminary, but all the numeraries receive the appropriate training and certain men are chosen to be ordained.

We stayed for lunch, and then we met with all of the young men. Many of them talked about their experiences and ministries. I was very taken by the apostolic zeal that was demonstrated in the stories that they told and how they are working to share their faith with their peers in the workplace, their schools, etc.

In today’s world where people talk about a vocations crisis, it is very encouraging to see the wonderful response to this way of life that has been approved by the Church and confirmed in the holiness of their founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá.

I think many people heard about the Opus Dei for the first time when the movie “The Da Vinci Code” came out. Although it was a very negative portrayal, it seems to have put Opus Dei on the map, as the say, at least in the United States. In the end, it does not seem to have hurt the community but rather made them more well known.

John Allen, who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote a very interesting book about Opus Dei, titled “Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church,” which I recommend to people who would like to know more about this way of life.

Of course, the writings of St. Josemaría are also very important, the most important being El Camino, which is a very easy read. It is almost like a book of sayings by the saint, organized according to themes.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Instruction and training in Opus Dei

Taken from an old version of Wikipedia. Also in Martin Frost's Website.

A Christian becomes a saint, according to Opus Dei's founder, through God's grace and mercy, and through the use of some principal means of sanctification, "learning to love": (1) interior life, activities turned into contemplation, which Jesus Christ calls "the one thing necessary" (Lk 10:42), and (2) doctrinal training, a well-reasoned understanding of God and his ordered work as revealed in the Catholic faith, which Benedict XVI calls the religion of the Logos (the Word: logic, intelligence, reason, meaning). Thus Escrivá says Christians should have "the piety of children and the sure doctrine of theologians."

He holds that the "paramount means of formation" is personal coaching through spiritual direction, a practice which has its roots in the early Church. According to Cornelio Fabro, eminent Italian philosopher, Opus Dei's training fosters the human virtues, habits which are developed through the repetition of free decisions in one's activities and professional work. These habits of human excellence, including love for the truth, courage, and generosity, are the "foundation," Escrivá says, of the supernatural virtues of faith and love for God.

Since he always stressed the importance of "the free and responsible personal action of each member," Fabro says Escrivá "restored the true concept of Christian freedom...After centuries of Christian spiritualities based on the priority of obedience, he taught that obedience was the consequence and fruit of freedom." It is to be noted though that this Catholic-Thomistic notion of "freedom for excellence" is different from the secular notion of "free choice" as having the highest value.

Monday, August 17, 2009

A Dominican who has a closeness to the spirituality of St. Josemaria

By Alan Phipps in ad altare dei

I may be a Dominican, but I will always have a closeness to the spirituality and teachings of St. Josemaría. I think he spoke to me at a particular time in my life characterized by mounting frustration with the Church's intersection with Daily Life, both in my life as well as in the lives of those around me. It was a good period of maturity. The call to holiness is universal, something our Church emphasizes, particularly in the person of our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. But more than that, you don't have to live a lofty life, be ordained clergy, or even be connected to a religious order to be holy. It is the unfolding and work of God's grace in the ordinary work of life, precisely where God has called you to live and serve.

From Passionately Loving the World:

On the contrary, you must understand now, more clearly, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.

From Christ Is Passing By:

Let's not deceive ourselves: in our life we will find vigor and victory and depression and defeat. This has always been true of the earthly pilgrimage of Christians, even of those we venerate on the altars. Don't you remember Peter, Augustine, and Francis? I have never liked biographies of saints which naively -- but also with a lack of sound doctrine -- present their deeds as if they had been confirmed in grace from birth. No. The true life stories of Christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray.

From The Forge, #846:

Constantly call to mind that at every moment you are cooperating in the human and spiritual formation of those around you, and of all souls — for the blessed Communion of Saints reaches as far as that. At every moment: when you work and when you rest; when people see you happy or when they see you worried; when at your job, or out in the street, you pray as does a child of God and the peace of your soul shows through; when people see that you have suffered, that you have wept, and you smile.

Monday, August 10, 2009

A voice of conscience in Obama's ancestral home

Leading Kenyan journalist Chaacha Mwita discussed in an interview the challenges he faces in achieving people-power in Kenya, the land that gave birth to President Obama's father. A devout Christian, he just published his 'Citizen Power' book.

By Martyn Drakard in Daily Estimate

"Daddy, you have dinner with us these days!" piped six-year old Monika, eldest daughter of Chaacha Mwita, a leading Kenyan journalist and name familiar to regular newspaper readers. While Gabriel, one of the five-year-old twin brothers, remonstrated with his dad: "If you ever go back to the US again for so long a period, you’re not my father!"

"Kids are observant," Chaacha chuckled, quite obviously having made a discovery.

Chaacha was telling me how different life is now that he has left the corporate rat-race and set up his own media-strengthening, publishing and research organization, Global Africa. Typically he had dropped the kids at school on his way to meet me that morning, something unheard of when he was senior editor at the Nation Group, the largest media house in the region, and, later, Group Managing Editor at the Standard, running close behind the Nation. Those days he would get back home physically and morally tired and brave a smile, and, almost always, find the kids already tucked in bed, asleep.

Then he took a gamble and decided, for the sake of family -- his first passion -- to go it alone and, with his wife Eunice, he set up their own media consulting firm. The day before we met he had been invited to scenic Great Rift Valley Lodge, overlooking Lake Naivasha in Kenya’s Rift Valley to speak to 132 Kenyan members of Parliament on media and parliamentary relations, and had got home in good time to be with the family and supervise the children’s homework. [...]

His career as a journalist, publisher and activist has led him to cross paths with many of today’s celebrities: Nelson Mandela, one of his personal icons, whom he admires for suffering nobly for his people; Barack Obama (twice, and Chaacha was amazed he remembered him at the second meeting); John Glenn; Kofi Annan, with whom he shared a platform just after the former UN Secretary General had brokered a peace deal in Kenya; Mo Ibrahim, initiator of the US$5 million democracy award for honourably retired African heads of state who have made a positive contribution to democracy; Tom Peters and Larry Ellison. "Completely normal human beings," was his comment.

Two particularly sad moments in his life were when they lost their little son seven days after birth, and his venture into the political arena, during the controversial and historical December 2007 elections. It was here that he lost his political innocence when the party he was supporting, Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, cheated him out of his nomination. Yet he continued to support the party until after the results were out and violence escalated.

He has collected all his ideas and experiences on media, politics and his knowledge of Africa -- his second passion, after his family -- into a book he has just launched: Citizen Power. It is a powerful indictment of, among other things, the political and economic control of the media in Africa, and how the Kenyan media aligned itself with the powers that ‘stole" the election.

It also comes down heavily on the developed countries and their ready acceptance of "free and fair" elections in Africa, as if in Africa seriously flawed elections can pass for "democracy". Because his third passion is justice, he is prepared to fight for it. He loves his country and wants to bring it out of the mess it’s in.

There are three other people he particularly admires besides Mandela: Pope John Paul II, whom he regrets never having met on his three trips to Kenya, and whom he admired before joining the Catholic Church; Mahatma Gandhi, for his belief in progress through non-violence and non-retaliation; and St Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, for his "revolutionary" idea that holiness is meant for everybody through their ordinary work regardless of social level.

Chaacha’s book will ruffle a few feathers, but it is only through people like him, ready to stick out their necks, who will provide a voice of conscience in a society where many political leaders, at all levels, have become compromised or overwhelmed by wrangling and bureaucracy, and much of the general public has given in to sterile criticism and apathy. Chaacha Mwita reminds us that not only is Africa not a basket-case but a continent of huge potential and hope; and that it is possible to combine family, faith and values and be a top professional too.

To read the full article, go to Daily Estimate.

Supernatural justice


By Megan at Metro Catholic

If bare justice is done, people may feel hurt. Always act, therefore, for the love of God, which will add to that justice the balm of a neighbourly love, and will purify and cleanse all earthly love. When you bring God in, everything becomes supernatural. - St. Josemaria Escriva


My six-year-old used to love watching “Frosty the Snowman” and would watch it ad nauseam. The older boys joined her in her quest for snow during the hot Texas summers and would beg to hear me sing the song, (although I come nowhere near Jimmy Durante’s version). But, typical of all children, they would pick up and repeat the three words that would grate on any adult ears… “It’s not fa-a-ir!” Professor Hinkle comes up with this gem, and all three of my darlings could duplicate the inflection perfectly. What’s more, they applied it to events that occur without their consent, be it a desired toy that is not purchased, or a turn that has not come up yet, or a fourth piece of candy. I have tried, to no avail, to explain exactly what is fair and what is not. One such instance presented itself during an exhausting errand-filled morning. Ethan and Noah began to argue about the fairness of a certain scenario proposed by one to the other. An argument ensued and led to the inevitable whine of “It’s not fa-a-ir!” Just at that moment a fellow Texan deftly cut me off, causing me to slam on my brakes and point out to the kids rather uncharitably that what was not fair was getting cut off by some idiot! Luckily, they ignored me, and I lapsed into silence as they continued their fairness debate.

I pondered this issue of fairness and how to impart to my children the virtue of justice. Justice is the only virtue not linked to an emotional response. It is pure reason, giving another what he is due. Justice towards men is defined in the Catechism as “disposing one to respect the rights of each man and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man (…) is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct towards his neighbour.” (CCC 1807)

Examining my reaction to the near-miss, I realized that even though I was angry, I was not willing to put all of our lives in danger by pursuing the negligent driver and tailing him, or worse, by cutting him off in return! I would rather swallow the injustice, let reason rule my actions, and concentrate on the safety of my family. My response was disposed towards the common good. Surely the negligent driver was “due” some of his own medicine (I get very irate when people are reckless while I have a van full of children) but the common good deserved better. Further, when one is disposed properly in “habitual right thinking and uprightness in conduct towards one’s neighbour” then the common good is automatically taken care of. This is what family life is about! Even when an injustice is committed, and the house echoes with a resounding “Maaa-maaa! Gemma spit at me aga—ain!” I can correct the wrong (quite a problem these days) and give a lesson in the uprightness in conduct towards one’s brothers and sisters. This type of attitude, if cultivated, will aid them all throughout life, especially in dealing with difficult people.

My hope has always been that my children will look on each other as allies in pursuit of the same goal: holiness. The habit of acquiring virtues will enable them to achieve this goal. And what better virtue to instill in them at this age than that which is closest to their hearts? Justice! And guess how our children will learn it best? That’s right, by our example. We need to always be upright in our thoughts and deeds towards others, with the common good in mind, always verbalizing our reasons as to why we do or do not retaliate to injustices suffered.

As for Professor Hinkle, justice was rightly doled out by St Nick in ordering the professor to write that he was sorry “a hundred zillion times”. While I doubt that the common good was thus recompensed, I assume that the professor thought twice before stealing any more hats from talking snowmen. Sometimes this avenue is necessary in instilling the virtue of justice, especially when dealing with young children, or reckless drivers

Sunday, August 9, 2009

St. Josemaria belongs to the whole Church


By Malin Jordan, in BC Catholic

St. Josemaria Escriva is the saint of Opus Dei, but he also belongs to the whole Church because of his inspiring life of holiness and the wealth of his spiritual teaching, Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, told supporters of Opus Dei and others.

Archbishop Miller offered Holy Mass on the feast of St. Josemaria at Holy Rosary Cathedral, and in his homily he discussed his importance.“He is particularly dear to us because of his insights, derived from the Word of God, that each and every person is called to holiness, to the perfection of charity, in whatever vocation he or she has received from the Lord.”

At the lectern, a large picture of St. Josemaria rested amongst some colourful potted flowers as the archbishop addressed the congregation. He said the modern saint preached tirelessly about how Christians need to live lives reflecting “the mystery of the Word Incarnate.”St. Josemaria believed in living the everyday for God. He thought work and the day-to-day events of life were opportunities to live that life closer to God.

Father Fernando Mignone, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei in Vancouver, said he was happy Opus Dei could celebrate St. Josemaria’s feast day.

He added it’s important to recognize the saint’s feast day. He noted many people who aren’t involved in Opus Dei ask the saint to intercede on their behalf.

“It’s important they get a chance to celebrate, too,” he said. “We want to give thanks to God for giving us a founder who was so holy.”

One of the hallmarks of St. Josemaria is dedication to confession. Father Mignone said the saint’s feast day sees big changes in people’s lives, and many return to confession after many years away. Pope John Paul II said Opus Dei members have the gift of confession.

This Mass was no exception; the lineup for confession was so long Father Mignone spent the whole time in the confessional.

“One of St. Josemaria’s special charisms is that a lot of people go to confession on his feast day and there are many conversions,” he said.

Alfonso Salas, Treasurer for the Westbrook Education Fund, a charitable organization that funds Opus Dei, enjoyed the ceremony.“He’s a modern saint and it’s great to honour him,” Salas said.

St. Josemaria was beatified in 1992 and canonized in 2002. He sought God in everything, saying, “All the ways of the earth can be an opportunity to meet Christ.”

He’s a modern saint and it’s great to honour him.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I was led to Saint Josemaría Escrivá

By Tony Valdez on Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum. He is a Professional Mortgage Consultant.

Today I was led to Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder Opus Dei. I don’t know anything about him or his work. But after watching some video taped during Q&A sessions I find the message to be strengthening. I’ve included such a Q&A to share. My intention is seek out some of his writings and by the grace of God … learn.

This particular video stikes me because he speaks of the Holy Mass and how the celebrant is not himself but Christ at that moment. I learned this as a small boy, reminded of it during my renewal in the Neocatechumenal Way and reinforced daily while assisting at Sacrifice of Calvary.

Friday, August 7, 2009

I never knew a little book would be so powerful

In My Chocolate Heart

God bless the dear bloggy friend who recently introduced me to St. Josemaria Escriva. I never knew a little book called The Forge would be so powerful.

Just one little gem for today that has been very meaningful to me lately. I feel stuck in the middle of a very dry and inspiration-less season, and it has thrown me for a loop. I read these words last night and I clung to them:

"Seek God in the depths of your pure, clean heart; in the depths of your soul when you are faithful to him. And never lose that intimacy.
And if ever you do not know how to speak to him or what to say, or you do not dare to look for Jesus inside yourself, turn to Mary, tota pulchra, all pure and wonderful, and tell her: Our Lady and Mother, the Lord wanted you yourself to look after God and tend him with your own hands. Teach me, teach us, how to treat your Son."


Indeed... Mother, teach me how to talk to Jesus, how to listen to Him, how to love Him. Pray for me, most Holy Mother.

My friend the priest

By Mark Nwagwu in The Guardian

IN some moments of deep reflection you may look at yourself and find totally unexplainable events or circumstances that not only transformed your way of life in the world but radically overhauled your soul leading it along the path of greater closeness to God. In particular, you may find your mind has been blown open making it so easy for you to have a direct and immediate friend-to-friend conversation with God. The contemplative soul in the middle of the world is, to me, the highest state of being. Fr. Munoz, my good friend over the years has held me in his strong, loving hands and led me along the path that brought me face to face with Our Lord as I sit with my thoughts. A very sweet man, he will be fifty years a priest on August 9, 2009. I always tell him that if he got to heaven and St. Peter gave him a hard time before letting him in, all he need say is "Look at all I did for the Nwagwus." "Ah! Please come in Louis, yes, yes, you moved mountains for the Nwagwus," the 'guardian with the keys to heaven' would say.

I am writing this piece at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, where my wife, Helen, is a 1974 alumna in clinical psychology and I, formerly, an associate professor. Now, our grandson, Chidozie Daniels, will be a freshman in September and we are here to introduce him to our friends and see him go through registration. He is the son of our daughter Ugochi and Onuora, at whose wedding Fr. Munoz was the officiating priest in January 1991. I was so happy that when it was time for dancing, I briefly abandoned Helen and went over to Fr. Munoz, took his unwilling hands and lifted him up for a dance. After a few embarrassing steps he quietly and prudently reminded me, "Mark, this is not your wedding." I got the message and let the genial Father return to his seat. Yes he is a priest. To me, he is my friend

Read the rest of the article here.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Reading into the Church

By Deal Hudson in Inside Catholic

Reading, said Josemaría Escrivá, has made many a saint. In my own case it has merely made a convert, but I do continue to read ever more deeply into the mystery that is the Church. Thomas Merton, we recall from Seven Storey Mountain, was started on his road to the Church by the accidental discovery of Gilson's The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy in the Columbia University Library. We are foolish to forget the power of the written word.

It is said that people don't read much anymore, that we live in a multimedia age, and that the act of reading is on the wane. I don't take these prognostications too seriously. Nothing is likely to replace reading as the most intimate medium of enjoyment and self-examination -- certainly not CD-ROM or the World Wide Web. When we want to change a person's life, we still give him a book, and wait, hoping.

Years ago a friend sent me a box of about twenty-five books with "Catholic bomb" written across the side. As I read them one by one, they exploded in my mind, leaving me disoriented and filled with an unfamiliar joy. It was the confusion of knowing that my life was changing forever; it was the joy of heading into an unknown country called the Catholic faith.

Read the rest of the article, with recommended readings, at Inside Catholic

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

An extraordinary catechesis by ordinary citizens

In The News Today

When people hear the word “catechesis,” they may think of “religious instruction” (which is similar to what Wiktionary says). But what will they make of a catechesis “on simply living an ordinary life in the middle of the world”?

This was the challenge that my two internet outsourcing officemates and I got when we attended a Mass on June 26, 2009 in Jaro Cathedral, Iloilo City. It was held in honor of St. Josemaría Escriva, founder of Opus Dei (Latin for “Work of God”), a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. I found it all rather ironic since St. Escriva relentlessly espoused a message of “being ordinary Christians in the middle of the world,” and yet this Mass of about 700 faithful was a rather special way to end another ordinary weekday!

The Auxiliary Bishop, Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza, presided over the Mass which started at 6:30 PM. Seventeen priests from the Archdiocese of Jaro concelebrated with him. Prior to the Mass, my two friends and I observed the people around us, coming from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances, and people who in one way or another were attracted to the spirit of St. Escriva. Indeed, these people were a fitting description of the Spanish saint’s idea of Christianity: not just members of a family, but living members of an active catechism meant to be learned, re-learned and lived for a whole lifetime.

This timeless message heard after a long week of work served to balance the cathedral’s stark and somber surroundings. The construction work being done inside the church was no small help to the respectful silence of the faithful, who were well aware of last year’s powerful typhoon which also devastated more than 50 provinces all over the country.

The bishop started his homily by citing some sobering signs of doctrinal ignorance here in Iloilo alone, which makes the duty of catechism an even more urgent task. This meshed well with the next idea of the homilist, that “all the apostolates of Opus Dei can be reduced to just one: give doctrine.” He also mentioned highlights about the life of Saint Escriva, who was canonized in 2002.

He mentioned that an important part of this “Work of God” is made up of activities with young people all over the world. In Iloilo, these activities revolve around Tawili University Center for women, and Tuburan Study Center and Orbe House in Miag-ao for men. He also pointed out the catechism and tutorial activities that are being organized by young students themselves in the case of the Yuhum Club and the Civics 101. Bishop Alminaza summed this all up by punning: “People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care!”

Monday, August 3, 2009

Filled with a holy and fruitful envy


I saw this post today at Blessings for the Day. It first quotes St. Josemaria's words:

'Now after this' – we read in the eighth chapter of Saint Luke – 'he made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chusa, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources'. I copy. And I pray God that if some woman reads this, she may be filled with a holy and fruitful envy.
~St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, #981


Then the blogger comments: Well St. Josemaria, God answered your prayer; this woman did read this and was filled with that holy and fruitful envy of which you speak. I would have loved being in the company of these holy women. Not just because of who they were and Who they followed around, but because they knew how to be women.

Then she explains: While we don't read much about any one of them in Scripture, we do get a sense that they understood what it meant to be a woman in their day and time. They weren't whining and complaining to our Lord about why they can't be Apostles. "They provided for them out of their own resources." Now this can mean any number of things from monetary assistance or simply providing a hot meal, but I read something a little more deeply into this statement. These women knew who they were, they understood what it was to live their womanhood and they cared and provided for Jesus and the Apostles from what they had in that capacity.

I am sure that it wasn't always easy being a woman in those times, but they seemed to accept their state in life graciously. They may not have been in the forefront of things, but they understood the importance of what was required of them, and when it came to serving Jesus and the Apostles I am sure they saw the great privilege in this.

To read the rest of her post, please go to Blessings for the Day.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Jesus, the greatest madman of all times

By St. Josemaria, in Forge 824 on the Eucharist, the Bread of Life

He was the greatest madman of all times. What greater madness could there be than to give oneself as he did, and for such people?

It would have been mad enough to have chosen to become a helpless Child. But even then, many wicked men might have been softened, and would not have dared to harm him. So this was not enough for him. He wanted to make himself even less, to give himself more lavishly. He made himself food, he became Bread.

Divine Madman! How do men treat you? How do I treat you?

Cory Aquino and the Family Farm Schools

by Mercedes B. Suleik in Manila Bulletin



Corazon Aquino, former President of the Philippines who just passed away, inaugurated the first Family Farm School in the Philippines on August 8, 1988.

Approximately 40 percent of Filipinos are engaged in farming, and the Philippines remains a rural agricultural economy. Moreover, most of these farmers have received only the most rudimentary of education, at most, elementary schooling. Lack of education has been cited as one of the reasons for the continuing poverty of our people. While our government strives to bring the basics of education to the rural areas, it is often hampered by budget problems. However, what I also see as a constraint is the type of education that is brought to our farming communities – higher education is often geared towards usefulness in the more urban settings.

One solution to raise the level of education of families in the rural areas is to provide the children of these farmers schooling that is adapted to the conditions of their environment, rather than the usual curriculum that is intended to prepare them for college education and employment in the cities.

The concept of the Family Farm School system introduced in the Philippines by the Pampamilyang Paaralang Agrikultura, Inc. (PPAI), a non-stock, non-profit foundation whose primary aim is to promote rural development in the country, may be the answer.

The concept of a "Family Farm School" (FFS) is based on three important things: a family, a farm, a school. Such a school is aimed at education, rural development, and growth. The FFS is a unique agricultural school concept patterned after the rural schools of Europe, among them the Spanish Escuelas Familiares Agrarias system and the Maison Familiale Rurales in France. These schools have transformed rural Europe into vibrant rural communities, modernizing agriculture in their countries and making people in the rural areas take responsibility for their own development. FFS are small units of community schools that assist rural areas through relevant education for the youth and their families. FFS operate on four basic principles from which all activities and learning are centered: the participation of parents, the small group of learners, learning by alternation, and rural development.

The PPAI considered the idea of putting up a school that would show the rural community, through the formation of their young people, that farming can be rewarding, and financially too. The school would provide the students with the proper values formation – human/social, intellectual/professional, and not the least, moral/spiritual – in short, a holistic education that addresses the entire being of a human person. Such a school would instill in them a love for farming, while learning the skills and technology for successful farming. It would teach them how to manage agricultural activities as a "business" and thus prepare them for a much better life. The family farm school is service-oriented and development-based.

FFS schools offer a 3-year special secondary curriculum which is equivalent to the 4-year regular secondary program. It is recognized by the Department of Education as a special secondary school, and follows the curriculum for Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP) with special emphasis on agricultural studies.

At present, there are six PPAI schools that follow the FFS system: Three of them in Batangas, namely, Dagatan FFS in Barrio Dagatan, Lipa City, Balete FFS in Barrio Maquina, Balete, Batangas, Talon FFS in Barrio Talon, Tuy, Batangas, and the other three are Bais FFS in Sitio Sab-ahan, Barrio Cantugot, Bais City, Negros Oriental, Pax Christi FFS in Barrio San Aquiino, Roxas, Mindoro Oriental, and Dingle FFS, Barrio Libo-o, Dingle, Iloilo. Incidentally, FFS are either all-boys or all-girls schools.