PHILIPPINE ADVENTURES

“Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.”
-Dr. Werner Von Braun- Continue reading →

“San Francisco has only one drawback; ‘tis hard to leave.” -Rudyard Kipling- California ranks 41 out of 48 states surveyed in terms of church attendance (www.religionfacts.com/). Despite the state’s low religious ranking California is noted for having some of the grandest houses of worship in the country all of which are well attended. Californians are very spiritual people but they don’t attend church all that much. Continue reading →

San Francisco or SF to us natives has an exotic quality about it compared to your average American city with its look-a-like brown stone dwellings, the socialist glass boxes we call modern office and government buildings. I left SF when I was a kid. In a previous article Continue reading →

There are few Filipinos in Ecuador. Ecuador and the Philippines share similar histories. Before Spanish colonialists seized the place the country’s previous rulers the Inca and his troublesome brother were embroiled in a bloody no-holds-barred winner-take-all civil war. Continue reading →

“Gato escaldodo del agua fria huye” (A scalded cat flees from cold water) meaning, ‘Once bitten, Twice Shy’. Continue reading →

“You don’t look down on anyone unless you are helping them up.”
-Marian G.- Last edition we discussed the first four Commandments of the Decalogue. We are concluding our Lenten-Easter series with the latter six.
V. Thou shall not kill. Continue reading →

People think of God’s Commandments solely as the ultimate ‘thou shalt not’ experience. They ignore the positive applications of the Decalogue. Civilizations and individuals suffer when the Divine will is ignored, watered down or followed half heartedly. The end result is always the same; emotional, spiritual, intellectual and bodily starvation. Zeal for the Kingdom is the only way to go. Continue reading →

Pope Francis has been labeled the most charismatic pontiff since Blessed Pope John XXIII. The reigning pope has charm, street smarts, and personal holiness. He is eminently qualified for his role as the 266th successor to the See of St. Peter as the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth. Continue reading →

Many argue if Catholic priests married, the vocation crisis would be solved and problems, some associate with clerical celibacy, would reach closure. Priests must have an extraordinarily high degree of moral discipline and personal freedom to minister properly. A Franciscan priest friend from my former South Chicago parish told me of his priest friend and member of the Old Catholic Church. This branch of Catholic-Christianity severed connections with Rome shortly after Vatican Council One (1868-1870) over doctrinal issues. Continue reading →

“Such a uniquely blessed country can never lose in a fair contest of course. It can falter only when it is betrayed by its’ rulers.”
-Thomas Frank- Continue reading →