It has been nearly six years since we began receiving candidates recommended to us by the Religious of the Assumption in the Philippines. In the beginning the prospect of establishing an Assumptionist foundation in this most Catholic of Asian countries seemed at best a dim possibility. In time the unlikely prospect began to take the shape of a promise, and now the promise stands poised to be realized.

Father Bernard Holzer, Brothers Clemente Boleche and Alex Castro, Father Gilles Blouin

On January 15, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College, four of the five founding members of the first Assumptionist community in the Philippines - Fathers Bernard Holzer (France) and Gilles Blouin (Quebec, Canada), and Brothers Clemente Boleche and Alex Castro (Philippines) - will be "sent" by the North American Province to this new mission. The fifth member of the community, Father Jean-Marie Chuvi Adubango (Democratic Republic of the Congo) will join them in spirit before they arrive at their common destination. To all who have made possible this joyful event we offer a prayer of thanksgiving; to these founding members we pledge our solidarity in the extension of God's kingdom.

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