What a mouthful of a title.
Yes I met those cute and smart seminarians when I worked as a student librarian at the UST Main Library. Since I was assigned at the Humanities Section where they frequented, I met so many of them. That was wayback in the 70s. Our Prefect at the library was a Spanish priest who is now in Korea. My fellow student librarians at the section and I were even invited to some ordinations of our friends. Some are now friends on FB.
I met Lovell for the first time when he graduated in Theology in 2008 but he was Nissa’s friend in UST during their college days. I remember him gifting me with a Vatican rosary when we met. He is now almost 10 years into the priesthood and is assigned in Iloilo down south. He is one of my prayer warriors and we get in touch from time to time. He calls me his spiritual mother.
Fr. Louie who is also a Dominican is the creator of The Filipino Catholic page on FB. When he learned that I am a friend of Lovell back in 2010, he asked me to be one of the co -admins of our page which I hold until now. The family met him for the first time when we went to Santo Domingo Church during our Visita Iglesia in 2011. He came back here after his doctorate in Rome and is now the Secretary General of UST. I met the rest of my Dominican friends then.
I met Fr. Rey when he was still a seminarian in UST. We are from the same province so we speak the same language. We lost touch after college graduation. He went to the US for further studies and came back here when he was ordained as a priest. He stayed in New York for a number of years and came home I think a couple of years ago. We are now friends on Facebook. We always have a healthy exchange of comments when it comes to politics.
I have been a friend of Fr. Pao since 2018 I think but we haven’t met personally until last Monday. I often attend his masses online. Met the rest of the Paulinians friends when we went to the wake of my friend’s mom.
Last 2014, my friends and I had a small gathering here at home, pot luck but I did most of the cooking. For the first time I personally met Fr. Tacky, a Franciscan and Fr. Boy, who is a Dominican. They came over too. That was a lovely occasion, full of laughter and food. I also met some online friends who are members of our page.
Funny how after all these years, we are still in touch, kumustahan once in a while. Like Fr. Lovell, they are my prayer warriors too.