Priests gather to pray, ponder and have fun

An hour with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. An hour of reflection on seminary formation and its implications to priests. An hour of the Holy Eucharist. An hour of vocation campaign and promotion. An afternoon of sports and leisure. An evening of dinner and fun. A whole day of fraternal camaraderie!

This quarter’s gathering of the Fraternity of the Diocesan Clergy of Davao (FDCD) last Sept. 10 at Mergrande Ocean Resort, was a holistic mix of piety, reflection, fraternity and fun. But with an added feature: the Sacerdotal Silver Jubilee celebration for Fr. Max Bahinting and Fr. Bong Dublan.

After the solemn Eucharistic adoration, the group listened attentively to the reflections of Fr. Ronald Lunas, a diocesan priest from Digos, as he expounded the theme “The Seminary and Priestly Formation in Vatican II: Its Implications to the life of Priests”.

“The seminary,” Fr. Lunas stressed, “is the heart of the diocese. A strong heart means a healthy body”. He, then, urged his fellow priests to “be careful with our heart”.

Citing the Vatican II document, Optatam totius, Fr. Lunas emphasized that “all priests should support the seminary” and “should show pastoral zeal by fostering vocation”.

Fostering vocation implies that priests should strive to live the virtues of humility, hard work, cheerfulness and mutual charity. They should uphold fraternal cooperation because “a divided clergy will not promote vocation”.

“However,” Fr. Lunas noted, “the greatest vocation promotion is the struggle to change ourselves continuously (semper reformanda)”.

The gathering highlighted the 25th priestly ordination anniversary of Fr. Max and Fr. Bong on December 12 this year. As Fr. Bong presided over the Mass, Fr. Max, in his homily, shared some of his reasons of being grateful to God for this special occasion.

The FDCD quarterly gathering aims to promote fraternal camaraderie and relaxation as well as reflection and on-going formation among the diocesan priests of the archdiocese.