3055 Royal Award for Fr Miguel Angel Ruiz
austraLasia #3055

Fr Miguel Angel Ruiz' work in Pakistan recognised

LAHORE: 22 April 2012-- The news from Lahore seems to be coming thick and fast these days! First we were able to indicate that Real Madrid is planning a football school in Pakistan and would like the Don Bosco Technical Centre in Lahore to be its location.  Then Fr Miguel Angel Ruiz, the Rector at Lahore, wrote with yet another item of news from the Spanish Ambassador in Islamabad - that the King and the Foreign Minister of Spain have awarded him with the Medal of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic.

There are many levels of this Royal Award, and Miguel does not indicate which, but any decree pertaining to this Royal Award must bear the signatures of the King (currently Juan Carlos I) and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is a prestigious civil award which acknowledges the firm allegiance of Spanish citizens to their nation and indeed of foreigners who are in good standing with the nation. Other than Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Cardinal Archbishop of Havana, Cuba, who received the Award earlier this year, the number of clergy in recent years who have received this Award are few and far between.  It is well merited for a man who has, as priest, Salesian, missionary and loyal Spaniard, built up the Don Bosco Technical Centre, the Don Bosco Middle School and Don Bosco Hostel in Lahore, following on from the sterling work of Fr Hans Dopheide from Australia-Pacific, who began the work and died only a short time ago in Australia after a long illness.

The work in Lahore occupies most of Miguel's time, understandably, but writing recently he explained the satisfaction he also gets from visiting the families of students, many of whom hail from parts of the country far from Lahore. The Lahore complex includes amongst its students many who have suffered from the natural disasters that have afflicted the country - earthquake and floods, particularly. Recently Miguel returned from a visit to the south of Pakistan. With funds collected from donors in Europe especially, and using many of the well-trained students at DBTC as welders and electricians, he has spear-headed a 124 house village building project, now complete, and has three more villages  planned for this year.