2017 Traditional university awards Special Academic Convocation 3:00 PM, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 Henry Lee Irwin Theatre, Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Philippines Programme Processional National Anthem James B Simpas PhD Invocation Emerito Salustiano R de la Rama SJ Head Chaplain for Basic Education Opening of the Special Academic Convocation Maria Luz C Vilches PhD Vice President for the Loyola Schools Welcome Remarks Jose Ramon T Villarin SJ President CONFERMENT OF TRADITIONAL UNIVERSITY AWARDS upon Fr Mark Lesage CICM Bukas Palad Award Synergeia Foundation under the leadership of Milwida M Guevara PhD Ozanam Award Br Carlito M Gaspar CSsR Parangal Lingkod Sambayanan Intermission Number Pundaquit Virtuosi Patricia B Licuanan PhD Government Service Award Alfonso C Bolipata Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi Closing of the Special Academic Convocation Maria Luz C Vilches PhD Song for Mary Recessional Maria Assunta C Cuyegkeng PhD Master of Ceremonies 3 Bukas Palad Award Fr Mark Lesage CICM r Mark Lesage, a missionary of the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM), was ordained during Vatican I but being a dreamer, his Fheart ran ahead of history. Early in his first parish assignment in 1962 in Kapitolyo Pasig, seeing the same handful of people in different church meetings, he thought of how the whole ‘people of God’ could live and participate in church life and mission. In 1969, he was assigned to the Parish of St Joseph in Las Piñas, where he would stay for 30 years. The wind of Vatican II in his wings, he spent all his energy 4 in facilitating the emergence of small faith communities in neighborhood settings (popularly called basic ecclesial communities or BECs) and, in a special way, built up the leadership responsibilities of everyone involved. In 1999, as he turned 65, an age when others hang up their gloves, Fr Mark entered a new arena by founding Bukal ng Tipan, a pastoral center that would serve dioceses in the Philippines, Asia, and Europe and would continue the community-building and communal leadership passion of Fr Mark. The Parish of St Joseph in Las Piñas developed from a priest-centered church to a participatory church through the affirming leadership of Fr Mark. Believing in the innate goodness and giftedness of people, he gradually built up the leadership groups in the parish. From the traditional parish council made up of the leaders of the mandated organizations, he set up a think-tank group that would brainstorm on how to increase participation in church life and mission. Working groups were organized per parish activity, composed of people who were not involved in the mandated organizations and whose task was to think ‘out of the box.’ In the early 1970s, working groups flowed into lay ministries, which responded to the bigger needs of the Las Piñas parish community, especially in terms of social action as the majority of the parish community came from the poorer sectors. The heads of ministries formed the Parish Coordinating Group in 1975. In 1980, the Parish Pastoral Council was renamed LINGAP (Lingkod ng ating Parokya) with the clear intention of fostering a pastoral servant attitude among its members. By 1985, the leadership structure had widened to the barrios and by 1990, the zones also had their own leadership teams. General parish assemblies attended by about a thousand people representing the different groups and areas in the parish started in 1986, as an integral part of the whole pastoral planning process for developing parish programs. This process entailed evaluation, decision-making, and goal-setting. Believing that leadership does not reside in one person but that every person has a leadership responsibility, Fr Mark thought of ways of including the baptized in decision-making by asking churchgoers their opinion regarding pastoral programs and activities. In 1987, the first parish survey was conducted during the Sunday masses. A few years later, those who did not go to church were also consulted. The results of the consultations were then forwarded to the Parish Council before it started its yearly evaluation and planning. For Fr Mark, building up leaders does not start with the question: What kind of leaders does the Parish need? It starts with the question: What kind of Church do we want to become? The growth in leadership, therefore, was in line with the vision of a participatory church. Fr Mark’s goal was to maximize participation from as many people as possible, especially the poorest, in all areas of parish life—from liturgical celebrations to formation seminars, decision-making, pastoral planning, and financial management—therefore engaging them in the life and mission of the greater church. 5 A most important instrument Fr Mark saw early on, as early as the 1970s, for participation to increase was the Basic Ecclesial Communities, a concept which was just starting at the time in the country. Hearing about it in Mindanao, he attended the first Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference in 1971. He continued visiting parishes all over the country that were also searching for new ways of being Church, especially through BEC. He went to a parish in Cebu and in Leyte and attended a number of BEC seminars there. In 1991, he and lay worker Estela Padilla went to Lumko in South Africa to study their BEC approaches and tools. The Bukas Palad Gradually, BECs—neighborhood groups meeting regularly to build Award embodies up their faith in Jesus through liturgical activities, formation and the Ignatian spirit awareness-raising, and social engagement and action—strengthened of generosity and to the point that the Parish of St Joseph became an exposure site gives recognition to for participatory church and BECs among Philippine parishes and the unconditional, dioceses. By the mid-90s, the parish also became an exposure site dedicated service for pastoral ministers, clergy, and lay from Asian countries, especially of the Religious those studying in the East Asian Pastoral Institute. In 1993, Fr Mark in Christ’s and Estela became co-founders of the BEC Desk in Asia under the Kingdom. The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. The parish BEC team also started giving BEC seminars to other parishes in the country and in awardees’ notable Asia, and was also invited to teach about BECs in Metro Manila’s achievements theological seminaries. serve as tangible, unmistakable evidence of the In 2001, Father Mark founded the Bukal ng Tipan Pastoral Training prophetic role Center with six lay pastoral workers from the Parish of St Joseph. Bukal’s mission is to journey with peoples towards a participatory of the Church in church in the world. From its parish experience of two decades, when today’s world. these six lay pastoral workers became active agents of moving the They also serve parish from a priest-centered to a participatory church, Bukal’s main as testimonials pastoral programs, tools, methods, and processes were designed. to Christ’s love Presently composed of ten people—eight lay and two priests—Bukal for mankind, has a BEC/Local Church Unit and a Youth Unit. It partners with different manifested in commissions of the Philippine and Asian Bishops’ Conferences, dedicated service especially the BEC, Youth, Bible, and Theological Commissions. to our fellowmen, especially the poor, Consistent with Father Mark’s passion for community-building and the oppressed, communal leadership, Bukal’s fundamental approach in pastoral work the marginalized, is accompanying and partnering with diocesan teams. Aware that it the sick and will always be an outsider, and respecting the history and culture of the suffering. dioceses, Bukal starts with immersion and exposure to the social and church life of the different dioceses it works with. It makes sure that it partners with a local team from the very start of its involvement in another diocese or parish. Believing that they cannot give what they do not have, the Bukal ng Tipan team takes its community life seriously, as it does its relationship-building with the diocesan team it 6 works with. To date, Bukal has worked intensely with about 30 dioceses in the Philippines, Asia, and Europe. Although it started as a pastoral center where people come and attend programs, it soon became a team that goes to dioceses and journeys with them. Bukal moved from a center to local areas, and in doing so became context-based, responsive to specific needs and, thus, more mission-oriented. From giving pastoral courses, it moved to facilitating processes of local church development. From pastoral consultants, Bukal became more conscious that they are partners and co-disciples with the different teams they encounter. For devoting more than 40 years of his life pursuing his vision of a participatory church, which, in his words is, “a church where everybody has the opportunity to participate, a church that is listening to people, a church that is concerned with the lives of people, a church where everybody has a place and a space, especially the poor,” the Ateneo de Manila University, in this Year of the Parish as Communion of Communities, confers on Fr Mark Lesage CICM the 2017 Bukas Palad Award. 7 Ozanam Award Synergeia Foundation Inc under the leadership of Milwida m guevara ynergeia Foundation Inc started as a learning circle for Ford Foundation grantees in 1999. When the Ford Foundation closed its Manila office in 2002, Synergeia evolvedS into a development organization with a simple dream: to ensure that every Filipino child completes quality basic education. In the Philippines, where an average of only 7 out of 10 children complete grade six (and in marginalized communities, only 3 out of 10), that seemed like an impossible dream. 8 The organization draws inspiration from the African proverb “It takes an entire village to raise a child.” It believes that educating our youth is too big a responsibility to be left to government alone.