MANILA: 22nd February 2010 -- The call to 'tell the story of
Jesus' which has come to us insistently through various channels in
recent years, both in the Church and within the Congregation, has found
a high point in a book launched yesterday in Manila by the Chairman of
the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant People's (ECMI) of the Philippine's Bishops Conference,
Bishop Precioso Cantillas SDB. The book is entitled Light
from Pinoys on the Move and subtitled Fifty Fascinating
Testimonies.
In his foreword, Bishop Cantillas refers to Filipino
migrants as 'modern heroes' of the Philippines who help sustain the
economy of the country, but also courageous 'missionaries' of the
Catholic Faith amongst peoples everywhere. He endorses and praises the
fine work of its author, Salesian Father Remo Bati, who spent many
years as chaplain to Filipinos in Rome and elsewhere, noting that the
book will serve as a 'companion' to many migrants who will find needed
support there in moments of crisis and a sign that the Church is a
loving mother to them. He also sees the book as invaluable for pastoral
workers and caregivers for chaplaincies and centres around the world
who can gain significant insights from the book on how to provide
pastoral interventions. He believes "it could also inspire some of them
to record and share their own pastoral experiences with migrants, or
some migrants’ stories for a greater information on the migrants’ world
so that the church and the society in general will become more aware of
migration which Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in veritate says
'... is a striking phenomenon because of the sheer numbers of people
involved, the social, economic, political, cultural, and religious
problems it raises'."
Fr Bati constructs his testimonies around the
Beatitudes: nine such chapters with an introduction and a conclusion.
While the testimonies are drawn from all over the world, we note some
of those from the EAO Region itself: Violeta in Melbourne and Margie in
Brunswick (also Melbourne), Marita in Oita, Rose in Seoul, Cedric in
Hong Kong, Felipe in Macao....
The further good news is that this work is now
available, by special dispensation of the author,
in SDL. (It is in the Regions collection if the link is not working
here - search under author 'Bati'). Fr Bati has already sold more than
a thousand copies and he is happy that it is widely distributed and
read. Maybe our publishers elsewhere could be interested in it as
an idea for something similar. The Filipino Salesian Publishers
concerned are Word & Life Publications, Don Bosco Compound, A.
Arnaiz Ave. cor. Chino Roces Ave. P.O. Box 1820, MCPO 1258 Makati,
Philippines Tel. Nos. (632) 894-5401 • 894-5402 • Telefax: (632)
894-5241 Email: marketing@wordandlife.org Website:www.wordandlife.org
and the ISBN of the book is 978-971-881694-3 _________________ AustraLasia is an
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service
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