After the deluge, now what?

Photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last week’s heavy monsoon rains revived memories of “Ondoy” in 2009, which had broken records, with a month’s worth of rain falling in just six hours.

Although not a typhoon, the monsoon rains affected and displaced some two million people. The death toll was not as bad as “Ondoy’”s, but the humanitarian disaster it caused was just as grave.

Lifestyle interviewed urban planners, architects and other experts on the factors that could have caused the calamity and the measures needed to solve them so as to stave off its repeat in the near future.

Did government listen?

Aquinas-speak in UST

Which traits of St. Thomas Aquinas should professors emulate?

“Patience. Our class is not cooperative. We always test the patience of our professors especially in Accounting.”
–Ma. Katrina Noble, 3rd Year, College of Commerce

“Compassion, committment, and competence.”
–Ana Carmela Mabaquiao, 2nd Year, Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management

“I want them to emulate his never-ending search for knowledge.”
–Renato Filemon Garcia, 3rd Year, Faculty of Engineering

Thomas Aquinas thrives in UST

UST patron St. Thomas Aquinas plays the major role in the University’s aim to be the Center of Contextualized Theology in Asia.

According to Joel Sagut, assistant to the director of the John Paul II (JPII) Center for Ecclesiastical Sciences, Aquinas is an authority in religious studies even in “local theology,” which deals with how God is seen in Filipino culture.

A gift from Sierra Madre

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” -Epicurus, BC 341-270

It was after the opening Misa de Gallo, when I saw that little girl, who was walking alone across the rough road of one of the summits of Sierra Madre. She was wearing a small stained white blouse, a navy blue skirt, and a threadbare pair of slippers. Although she was only seven then, she already taught me one of the most inspiring lessons that I will treasure forever.

Beatified UST martyrs honored in Mass

Last October 28, the biggest beatification ceremony in the Church’s history was celebrated at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

That day, 498 martyrs from the religious persecution during the Spanish Civil War (1933-1937) were beatified in a ceremony presided by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Among the new martyrs were eight Dominicans who had worked or studied in the Philippines; six of them had worked in the University of Santo Tomas.

UST is part and parcel of La Naval saga: The Queen and her Thomasian subjects

No other Marian image in the Philippines compares with the historical and spiritual richness of La Naval de Manila, whose divine interventions have been well-acknowledged from time immemorial.

Our Lady of La Naval continues to influence lives of Marian devotees as it did in the almost desperate but triumphant battles of Filipino-Spanish forces against the Dutch armada in the 1600s. After four centuries of devastating wars, natural calamities, and rampant sacrilegious Church robberies, La Naval has gained and received immense devotion from Filipinos, being the country’s patroness.

When Thomasians spruce up the Queen

The thunder of La Naval is expected to ring loudest next month when the Philippine Church and the Dominican Order mark the centennial of the coronation of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario, La Naval de Manila.

Now enshrined at the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, Nuestra Señora del Rosario de La Naval was the first Marian image in the Philippines to be canonically crowned in 1907. It is said that Pope Pius X had immediately acceded to the Dominicans’ request for the canonical coronation by writing his permission long-hand in 1906.

100th year of La Naval's canonical coronation marked

Highlighting the 100th anniversary of the canonical coronation of La Naval de Manila, the Dominican Province of the Philippines will reenact the Marian image’s solemn canonical coronation on Oct. 4 at the Sto. Domingo Parish in Quezon City, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The reenactment will be made during a High Mass to be celebrated by Msgr. Wojciech Zaluski, charge de affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature (the new Nuncio, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, has yet to assume his post and present his diplomatic papers to Malacanang and the Philippine bishops), and 15 bishops coming from all over the country.

Puno ng mga Dominiko bumisita sa UST

Nasa bansa ang tinaguriang “Dominican pope,” si P. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, O.P., para sa isang visitation upang kausapin ang kanyang mga kapatid tungkol sa kalagayan ng Ordeng Dominiko sa Pilipinas.

Dumating si Azpiroz sa bansa noong Agosto 26 at mananatili hanggang Setyembre 24. Maglilibot ang Argentinong Dominiko sa iba’t-ibang dako ng Pilipinas, bahagi ng kanyang tungkulin bilang pinuno ng Orden sa buong mundo.

UST Parish nixes PPCRV poll watch

Despite being a key church in the Archdiocese of Manila, the UST’s Santissimo Rosario Parish failed to send volunteers for the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) poll watch during the May 14 elections.

Only the Santissimo Rosario Parish failed to send volunteers among churches in district 4 of Manila, PPCRV secretary general Bro. Clifford Sorita told the Varsitarian.

Theology Week 2007: Catholic schools to stress moral values vs. corruption

Do Catholic schools produce corrupt politicians?

Despite a good number of national and local leaders educated in Catholic schools, the country still topped the list of most corrupt countries in Asia according to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) survey last month.

Whether Catholic schools are part of the blame and what these institutions should do were the talking points of the speakers of the Theology Week 2007, a five-day lecture series last April 16 to 20 at the UST Martyrs’ Hall.