Philippines is where the Order has the most active educational activities. There are 10 centers of education, two of which are universities (San Jose in Cebu and the University of Negros Occidental in Bacolod); two big Colleges (offering university-level courses) and the other four are high schools. Around 40,000 students are enrolled in these institutions with about 1,500 members of the faculty. There are 50 religious assigned to schools.
Julius Marcos, the president of the Secretariat of Educational Apostolate, otherwise known as REAP (Recoletos Educational Apostolate in the Philippines), requested the Prior General for some encouraging words about the “meaning and importance of revitalization. which the General Chapter has insistently pronounced”. He was searching for ways to “motivate all the religious who labor in this area to be enthusiastic in cooperating with the process of renewal which is work of the Holy Spirit in us”.
The superior general of the Order started his long message with the invitation to renew commitment to educational apostolate as he affirmed that, citing a provision of the Chapter – “It has a logical presence within the Augustinian Recollect charism, and this field of education is today one of the major and most needed platform, … for the process of the New Evangelization”. There follows the elaboration on the meaning of evangelization and the restructuring of the Order. He also enumerated the criteria of identity of the Augustinian Recollect educational ministry, with much emphasis given to three: a mission shared with the lay, formation of teachers and the promotion of vocation.
In conclusion the major superiors called the religious to live a life that is coherent with the identity. He cited a line from the Document of Aparecida, which speaks of the need of the Church – and our Order – for a strong shaking up in order to avoid conformism, stagnancy and lukewarmness in the way of life that is distant from the suffering of the poor.
Assembly
The province of St. Ezekiel held the annual general assembly of the REAP on February 24 – 28 at the Talavera Retreat Center in Cebu. Forty of the religious who are assigned to school were present in this gathering. The objective of the assembly this year was to find ways to better implement the programs of education of the province in the context of the Order. The theme of the assembly reflected the concerns of the Order: “Revitalization and Restructuring of the Educational Apostolate”.
The participants prayed, studied and discerned on the talks given during the assembly. Among the speakers were the prior provincial, Lauro Larlar, who spoke on “The Revitalization of the Order” and the archbishop of Cebu and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, who – in gratitude to the Recollects for their dedication to education and service to the Church – reminded the religious of the many documents that emphasize the importance of education for new evangelization.