Remember who we are, whose we are: Provincial tells AdU community in GA ‘23-’24
Date Posted: September 15, 2023 at 02:51 PM
The University officially kicked off School Year 2023-2024 with its annual Mass of the Holy Spirit and General Assembly held at the University Theater, August 14.
Fr. Peter Solis, CM, Provincial Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission Philippine Province presided over the mass, along with Adamson’s Vincentian priests.
In his homily, Fr. Solis encouraged the community to be reminded of their identity as Christians and as followers of God, alluding to being Christians’ similarity to being caregivers to those who have Alzheimer’s Disease or those who may have forgotten their identities.
“The caregiver is a very good metaphor of the Christian disciple – people, even those who are healthy, are prone to forget who they truly are and whom they ultimately belong. For their sakes, the Christians’ call [is] to be a caregiver to the world, dealing with others with respect, caring for them, lovingly reminding them of the truth of their ultimate identity -- helping people to remember,” he said.
“These acts of remembering, animated by the power of God’s spirit, can enable us to see that administrative and educational service are indeed gifts to the church and a genuine expression of our call to discipleship... to keep remembering whose we are.”
The Provincial’s words point to the GA’s theme this year, Catalyst of Social Transformation through Vincentian Education.
University President Fr. Marcelo Manimtim, CM, on the other hand, reiterated the importance of social transformation in the education, especially those being offered to secondary and college students.
It is with such idea that Fr. Manimtim underscored the role of systemic change in the future development of the University, along with the Vincentian ideals it has continued to foster and promote.
“If George Lucas Adamson aspired for an industrially developed society, it is incumbent for us to aspire for a socially transformed society,” he said.
“[Our theme for this year] is not yet a statement of fac... it is rather an expression of an aspiration that justifies why we are in the field of education – for social transformation,” he continued while highlighting the Universities continuous focus on its research endeavors, in both hard and soft sciences, including social sciences.
Meanwhile, Dr. Gliceria Lunag, Dean of the host college, the College of Education and Liberal Arts, in her welcome remarks, highlighted the community’s joy in continuing the in-campus festivities and reaching out to everyone especially that in-person classes are already in full swing.
“Like Vincent de Paul who went into sacrificing and creating various ways of helping the poor during his time, let us understand what “poverty” for our students could be so that we can reach out to them,” she said. “As we try to beat the demands of innovation, research, accreditation and advancement, may we not forget to put our students’ formation as human beings and children of God as the reason of all our efforts.”
Also included in the event are the reports of the different offices and departments under the Office of the President and the Vice Presidents of Administrative Affairs, Financial Affairs, Students Affairs and Academic Affairs.
Performances from various departments of CELA entertained the participants of the program, which spanned until 12pm.
