MANILA, July 15, 2013— St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary (REMASE) of Mindanao kicked off its year-long golden jubilee celebration with a Mass last July 11 at the San Pedro Cathedral, with the theme “REMASE @ 50: We Recall, We Marvel, We Serve.”
Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles led the launching mass with Davao Auxiliary Bishop George Rimando and Kidapawan Bishop Romulo de la Cruz together with some diocesan and religious priests who graduated from the regional seminary.
In his homily, the archbishop stressed that the celebration of the Golden Anniversary is not about them, but about God and His goodness.
“We must turn our eyes, hearts and minds to God in this great celebration. We will always give thanks to the Lord on the account of the living institution, the living community of REMASE. Let us remember that what the seminary did for the past 50 years is actually the work of the Lord,” Valles emphasized.
“Truly, the reason for our celebration is that it is for heaven. So let us always give thanks to God for the gift of seminary in our midst,” he furthered.
Seminary personnel and seminarians, members of some religious congregations of men and women, and some students of Catholic schools in the archdiocese attended the launching mass.
A motorcade followed right after the mass from the Cathedral to REMASE then a ground breaking ceremony took place in the seminary grounds for the new building which was officiated by Archbishop Valles and Bishop de la Cruz.
The regional seminary is a diocesan seminary which opened on July 11, 1964 under the Foreign Mission of Quebec Fathers (Pretres Missions des Estrangeres) commonly known as the PME Fathers.
It started to operate with 34 seminarians, (9 theologians and 25 philosophers) under the rectorship of Fr. Paul-Emile Lahaye, PME. (Jandel Posion with Sem. Ritzchild John Cariaga)