Heart of the Diocese

The Second Vatican Council document Optatam Totius (Decree on Priestly Formation) # 5 states, “let every priest regard the seminary as the HEART OF THE DIOCESE, gladly offering the help of his service.”  It should not only be the Bishops and the priests who consider the Seminary as the Heart of the Diocese but every Catholic faithful who loves the church.

Thanks to the PME missionaries because of their vision to strengthen the local church of Davao that they erected two seminaries in the Archdiocese – the Minor seminary (philosophy) established in 1956 and the Major seminary (theology) in 1964, both carrying the name of the great missionary St. Francis Xavier.

This July 11, the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary of Mindanao (REMASE), will be launching its golden jubilee celebration, another milestone of the institution that forms priests in the church.  REMASE has already produced 788 alumni priests, now serving in the local churches in Mindanao and abroad as missionaries.  Among them, seven became bishops including our shepherd – Archbishop Romulo G. Valles, D.D.  The first alumnus is our own priest, Msgr. Edgar Rodriguez.

“You are physically healthy because your heart is very healthy.”  On this golden jubilee of REMASE, let us renew our desire to care for the heart.  As you love your shepherds in the parishes think of the Seminary that forms them.  Pray for seminarians in formation and for the priest-formators who form them to become like Jesus Christ.  We too can intensify our financial help to the heart of the Diocese.

Together with the seminarians, faculty, priest-formators, alumni priests and bishops, and the lay personnel of REMASE, let us be one in celebrating the golden jubilee with the theme “REMASE @ 50: We REcall, We MArvel, We SErve!”  It is here in the Archdiocese and it is our own!