austraLasia #2601
50 Fascinating Testimonies
MANILA: 22nd February 2010 -- The call to 'tell the story of Jesus' which has come to us insistently through various channels in recent years, both in the Church and within the Congregation, has found a high point in a book launched yesterday in Manila by the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People's (ECMI) of the Philippine's Bishops Conference, Bishop Precioso Cantillas SDB. The book is entitled Light from Pinoys on the Move and subtitled Fifty Fascinating Testimonies.
In his foreword, Bishop Cantillas refers to Filipino migrants as 'modern heroes' of the Philippines who help sustain the economy of the country, but also courageous 'missionaries' of the Catholic Faith amongst peoples everywhere. He endorses and praises the fine work of its author, Salesian Father Remo Bati, who spent many years as chaplain to Filipinos in Rome and elsewhere, noting that the book will serve as a 'companion' to many migrants who will find needed support there in moments of crisis and a sign that the Church is a loving mother to them. He also sees the book as invaluable for pastoral workers and caregivers for chaplaincies and centres around the world who can gain significant insights from the book on how to provide pastoral interventions. He believes "it could also inspire some of them to record and share their own pastoral experiences with migrants, or some migrants’ stories for a greater information on the migrants’ world so that the church and the society in general will become more aware of migration which Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in veritate says '... is a striking phenomenon because of the sheer numbers of people involved, the social, economic, political, cultural, and religious problems it raises'."
Fr Bati constructs his testimonies around the Beatitudes: nine such chapters with an introduction and a conclusion. While the testimonies are drawn from all over the world, we note some of those from the EAO Region itself: Violeta in Melbourne and Margie in Brunswick (also Melbourne), Marita in Oita, Rose in Seoul, Cedric in Hong Kong, Felipe in Macao....
The further good news is that this work is now available, by special dispensation of the author, in SDL. (It is in the Regions collection if the link is not working here - search under author 'Bati'). Fr Bati has already sold more than a thousand copies and he is happy that it is widely distributed and read. Maybe our publishers elsewhere could be interested in it as an idea for something similar. The Filipino Salesian Publishers concerned are Word & Life Publications, Don Bosco Compound, A. Arnaiz Ave. cor. Chino Roces Ave. P.O. Box 1820, MCPO 1258 Makati, Philippines Tel. Nos. (632) 894-5401 • 894-5402 • Telefax: (632) 894-5241 Email: marketing@wordandlife.org Website:www.wordandlife.org and the ISBN of the book is 978-971-881694-3
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
50 Fascinating Testimonies
MANILA: 22nd February 2010 -- The call to 'tell the story of Jesus' which has come to us insistently through various channels in recent years, both in the Church and within the Congregation, has found a high point in a book launched yesterday in Manila by the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People's (ECMI) of the Philippine's Bishops Conference, Bishop Precioso Cantillas SDB. The book is entitled Light from Pinoys on the Move and subtitled Fifty Fascinating Testimonies.
In his foreword, Bishop Cantillas refers to Filipino migrants as 'modern heroes' of the Philippines who help sustain the economy of the country, but also courageous 'missionaries' of the Catholic Faith amongst peoples everywhere. He endorses and praises the fine work of its author, Salesian Father Remo Bati, who spent many years as chaplain to Filipinos in Rome and elsewhere, noting that the book will serve as a 'companion' to many migrants who will find needed support there in moments of crisis and a sign that the Church is a loving mother to them. He also sees the book as invaluable for pastoral workers and caregivers for chaplaincies and centres around the world who can gain significant insights from the book on how to provide pastoral interventions. He believes "it could also inspire some of them to record and share their own pastoral experiences with migrants, or some migrants’ stories for a greater information on the migrants’ world so that the church and the society in general will become more aware of migration which Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in veritate says '... is a striking phenomenon because of the sheer numbers of people involved, the social, economic, political, cultural, and religious problems it raises'."
Fr Bati constructs his testimonies around the Beatitudes: nine such chapters with an introduction and a conclusion. While the testimonies are drawn from all over the world, we note some of those from the EAO Region itself: Violeta in Melbourne and Margie in Brunswick (also Melbourne), Marita in Oita, Rose in Seoul, Cedric in Hong Kong, Felipe in Macao....
The further good news is that this work is now available, by special dispensation of the author, in SDL. (It is in the Regions collection if the link is not working here - search under author 'Bati'). Fr Bati has already sold more than a thousand copies and he is happy that it is widely distributed and read. Maybe our publishers elsewhere could be interested in it as an idea for something similar. The Filipino Salesian Publishers concerned are Word & Life Publications, Don Bosco Compound, A. Arnaiz Ave. cor. Chino Roces Ave. P.O. Box 1820, MCPO 1258 Makati, Philippines Tel. Nos. (632) 894-5401 • 894-5402 • Telefax: (632) 894-5241 Email: marketing@wordandlife.org Website:www.wordandlife.org and the ISBN of the book is 978-971-881694-3
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
