History
EDMUND RICE BROTHERS BEGINNINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES
A community of Edmund Rice Brothers was first established in
Kabankalan, Negros Occ. in 2006. A year later, a community began in Hilongos in
Leyte; and in 2010 the Hilongos community was moved to Maasin City in So. Leyte. In
2017, a brothers’ community was established in Cebu City
The Philippines mission was an initiative of Br. Philip Pinto,
15th Successor of Blessed Edmund Rice as Congregation Leader.Brothers Neil Langan,
John Moodie, Peter Hardiman and Rod Ellyard arrived in Kabankalan from Australia on
March 14, 2006. They were warmly welcomed by Bishop Pat Buzon SDB.
A feature of this Diocese was the work of the Columban
Missionaries since 1950. Mainly Irish in origin these men had a first-hand knowledge
of the Christian Brothers and expressed delight on our presence with them. They had
established Junior High Schools in virtually every parish of the Diocese. When the
Brothers arrived these schools were coordinated by an elderly priest Fr. Patrick
Hurley, then in his 80s. It became clear that Bishop Buson wished the Brothers to
become involved at this level. A Catholic Education Commission was established
headed by Rod Ellyard who became Superintendent of Schools for the next six years.
Neil and Peter returned to Australia for health reasons after
three years. Other Brothers who have worked in Kabankalan are Lawrie Collins (2009),
Jim Quinn (2011-2016), and Luke Quinn (2014-2017). A number of lay missionaries
attracted by the educational involvement worked with the Brothers for varying
lengths of time, principally Joe and Anne Steyns who worked for the whole year 2009.
From the beginning, John Moodie explored ways to make a direct
impact with the very poor. Based on research documents into the reasons for the high
rate of drop-out from school (DepEd, Division of Kabankalan, 2005) and the areas of
highest incidence of poverty (Diocese of Kabankalan, 2005) he developed three
aspects of ministry – assisting children to stay in school; starting classes of
Alternative Learning System (ALS) for youth who had dropped out of formal education;
and supporting youth to attend vocational programs. The current Education programs
have grown from this beginning. Mrs. Angie Gayares was his first helper and deserves
special mention.
It was Jim Quinn who suggested the building of Edmund Rice Center
within the grounds of the Cathedral Compound, readily agreed by the Diocese, and was
the driving force in having the building erected. The project was supported
financially by Edmund Rice Foundation, Australia. ERFA’s annual financial support
has enabled most of our current ministry activities.
Following a visit by Congregation Leader Br. Philip Pinto and Br.
Peter Dowling to The Philippines in November 2012 explaining a document ‘A Way Into
The Future’, advocating Community Engagement as a mode of operation in Third World
Countries, exploration of possible ways to engage more closely with communities was
led by Ms. Venetia Anne ‘Gigi’ Tropa through 2013, with the first four communities
begun by September that year. With the arrival in 2014 of Br. Luke Quinn a
partnership with Gigi led to growth in Community Development.
In August 2007 the second community of Brothers, consisting of
Carl Sherrin, and Peter Thrupp from Australia and Frank Perkins from New Zealand,
arrived. They worked for two years 2008/9 and 2009/10 at St. Teresa’s School in
Hilongos. In 2010, the community was closed in Hilongos Leyte with a view to a
re-opening of a community at Maria Clara in Maasin City, So. Leyte.
The new community of Brothers came together in late June 2010
with Br. Francis Perkins (formerly in Hilongos) providing transitional leadership,
with Brothers Theodore Alvares and RoshanD’Cunha from India and Graeme Leach from
Papua New Guinea. The new community was given a mandate by the Brothers’ Oceania
Leadership Team to conduct a survey to identify needs of the poor and the young and
to undertake ministries to address these needs in a way to have an impact across the
diocese.
Interviews were held with up to 56 representative groups on Leyte
Island including Government Departments, province and local level government, civil
society, Catholic diocesan commissions, other Christian churches and the Muslim
community. The main problems areas identified were the break-down of relationships
between high school youth and their parents; lack of livelihood/poverty resulting in
children dropping out of schooling through hunger; and lack of primary ear health
care, disability prevention awareness and early intervention services.
The finding of this survey resulted in the strategic plan of
forming as well as a Finance, Admin and Support Team, three Edmund Rice field
services which eventually came to be known by mid-2013 as: 1) Child Assistance &
Livelihood Promotion (CALP) 2) Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and 3) Youth
Development Animation (YDA). Initially, the three field teams were coordinated by
Brothers RoshanD’Cunha for CALP; Theo Alvares for YDA, and Graeme Leach for CBR.
Bro. Paul Coster who had replaced Br. Frank Perkins headed the Finance, Admin and
Support Unit as Project Manager.
On 1 Feb. 2012, 9 Filipino professional staff signed one-year
contracts with ERS: Jennifer Maraon, Christine Ozon, Lester Montederamos, Israel
Mayorca, Reyvonessa Dagahoy, Rosavilla Oclarit, Ana Creencia, Liza B. Sacro and
Jason
S. Laure. Four additional staff followed after 3 months probation, Joyce L.
Billones, Blezie T. Escabal, Gevic, Epiz, and Eva Doron.
Grants from Edmund Rice Foundation Australia and the Province of
Oceania of the Christian Brothers enabled renovation of the Diocesan Social Action
Building in Bishop’s Residence Compound, Brgy. Asuncion. Contributions including
those of the Diocese and of the architect Mr. Julius Cabachete, were publicly
acknowledged at the Blessing and Opening by Most Rev. Precioso Cantillas SDB on
March
9th, 2012. Thus with a full staff of 17 including the Brothers and a
fit-for-purpose, well equipped work base, ERS was already fully operational.
Great help was given the YDA staff by the Sister responsible for
the Maasin Diocesan Campus Ministry programs and staff of the Cataract Foundation
Center of Bacolod shared specialist knowledge and skills with the CBR team helping
to develop the program of Primary Ear and Eye Health Care.
TYPHOON HAIYAN/YOLANDA on Nov. 8, 2013 with its terrible
storm-surge caused huge damage with 4,500 deaths across the City of Tacloban and the
adjoining Municipalities of Palo and Tanuaun. Edmund Rice Services in Maasin
responded by establishing in Tacloban, a mobile field team of two locally recruited
nurses supported by two nurses from ERM Maasin, conducting Ear and Eye Screening of
children in typhoon-affected schools with Critical Intervention responses as
required. Edmund Rice Development Dublin funded this initial emergency outreach.
A community of Edmund Rice Brothers was appointed to Cebu City in
2017. Members of this community were: Brothers Theodore Alvares (India), Dennis
Fernandez (Philippines), and Ian Robertson (Australia). With the approval of Most
Rev. Jose Palma (Archbishop of Cebu) and on the direction of the Oceania Leadership
Team, they engaged in a listening survey conducted in six of the most disadvantaged
barangays of Cebu City. The survey was conducted professionally by licensed Social
Workers with permission of the Barangay Councils.
By this exercise, the Brothers became engaged with the deepest
concerns of people living in poorest of conditions and with the assistance of a
wider Listening or Reference group of experienced professionals from the Archdiocese
and Religious Congregations were able to reflect on the core concerns of the
communities in regard to Livelihood, Education and Health. This experience not only
assisted the Brothers in discerning implications of realities for those living in
the poorest conditions and for any journeying with such communities, but resulted in
the blessing for the Brothers community of having the support of ongoing friendship
with a number of dedicated people in various ministries across the City.
With two communities in Brgys. Carreta and Tinago having been
identified with which to take engagement further, with agreement of the Brothers
Community in Cebu, the Oceania Leadership requested the ERM Foundation Board of
Trustees to take up the ministries in Cebu under its auspices as from February,
2019. The Foundation Board of Trustees agreed unanimously to do this.