Asia’s Foothold of Christianity
St. Vincent Pallotti’s Mission of the Philippines
“The joy of the Gospel is evident in your people. It is part of your genes, a blessed “infectiousness” that I urge you to preserve! With your joy, you will help people to say of the Church: “she so loved the world!” How beautiful and attractive is a Church that loves the world without judging, a Church that gives herself to the world. May it be so, dear brothers and sisters, in the Philippines and in every part of the earth.”
— Pope Francis
Discovering Pallotti’s Journey
Ecclesiastically known as the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, the Pallottines were founded by St. Vincent Pallotti; a mystic in action, who constantly took the Gospel to the streets. His pastoral approach was dynamic, invigorating, and prophetic; where the holiness of all the baptized - Lay & Religious - were called to build up the Church.
A missionary of Rome, with a spirituality of universality to the remotest hemispheres, his missions are in over 50 countries around the world; from the foothills of the Himalayas, to the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea. These are tread upon by the diverse Provincial and Regional Juridical Structures that encompass the Society’s international governing constitution. Its spiritual and administrative seat is in Rome’s city center, at the Church Ss. Salvatore in Onda; where St. Vincent’s incorrupt body remains, and where he, as a priest, had that very impulse to evangelize, and make his mark of extraordinary holiness on the world.
Bacolod City
The Society’s Fathers arrived to Bacolod City in 2010, via India’s Khrist Jyothi Province. Their first mission was to take up the urban parish work; an opportunity - that Pope Francis shares in Evangelii Gaudium - that “challenges us to imagine innovative spaces and possibilities for prayer and communion which are more attractive and meaningful for city dwellers. Through the influence of the media, rural areas are being affected by the same cultural changes, which are significantly altering their way of life as well.”
With a completely revolutionized approach of zeal, the Pallottines became pastors with the smell of their sheep. Constantly missionary, the parishes of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, as well as San Antonio de Padua, became “an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration” (Pope Francis).
In 2014, the Pallottine Formation House was inaugurated and blessed, actively ready to form local vocations to the Society. As of 2021, 20 Brothers are being accompanied to a demanding and transcendent dimension!