Filipino Catholic composers stage concert for benefit of seminary
MANILA, Philippines - A splendid musical concert will be spearheaded by Filipino-Catholic composers Fr. Manoling Franciso SJ and Fr. Arnel Aquino SJ on May 14 and 15, 2016, at the Meralco Theater to help raise funds and awareness for the San Jose Seminary.
The concert titled “Bayan Umawit: Singing God’s Mercy through the Ages” will feature several choirs - ?Bukas Palad, Tinig Barangka, Ateneo Chamber Singers, Tinig San Jose, Isay Alvarez and Robert Sena.
Bayan, Umawit! recalls this great story of San Jose through the songs that inspired and became part of the lives of countless Josefinos who give their lives to the Lord in more ways than one, looking toward the horizon with much hope for the local Church--in opus ministerii (in the work of ministry).
Proclaiming the gospel
The year 1965 was a moment of great renewal and transformation in the Church. As the Second Vatican Council was drawing to a close, one thing was clearly emerging: far from being a closed and exclusive institution. She is called to proclaim the Gospel to the modern world and embrace its realities, bringing all peoples of all cultures to God closer. Thus, the Church began once again to share "the joys and the hopes of the people of God" (Gaudium et Spes no. 1), helping and allowing men and women to find the presence of the divine in his and her everyday realities.
Priests, seminarians and members of religious organizations were called to proclaim the Gospel not just in pulpits and chapels, but also on streets and alleys. Thus, priestly formation and pastoral work took on a new face and with new contexts to move upon.
Getting to know San Jose Seminary
A year after Vatican II, San José Seminary, which had already been in existence for more than than 300 years old under the tutelage of the Society of Jesus, decided to leave behind its home in what was then an isolated patch of land in Highway 54, and reside within Ateneo de Manila University in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.
Planted in this new ground, the Seminary thus stood closer to the world, from which the Church separated herself. Under the fatherly guidance of the Jesuits, seminary formation happened not just within the walls and corridors of the seminary halls and classrooms of the newly-founded Loyola School of Theology, situated within the campus and a stone's throw from the seminary. Formation extended further to the university and to the communities near and beyond Loyola Heights, in the midst of people and in diverse situations. And with this new environment, Josefinos (a nickname for the seminarians of San José Seminary) faced challenges, broader horizons, and greater frontiers to proclaim the Gospel and, in the process, were transformed by it.
Evolution of liturgical music
Vatican II radically changed many features on the life of the Church: seminary formation, theology and liturgy, among others. In the advent of great liturgical reforms, music played a very important part in the transition from the old to the new. Liturgical music shifted from an exclusive focus on praise of the Almighty in very solemn liturgical tunes to more heartfelt and inculturated songs which reflected people’s experience of God and life.
The great Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros, SJ spearheaded the composition of new liturgical songs in Filipino with a distinctive Filipino melody. The Josefinos partly contributed to the widespread use of Fr. Eddie’s songs as they taught then in their apostolate areas. Through the Josefinos’ humble efforts, the people truly felt and experienced what it meant to be chosen and called by God, as reflected in these words: Bayan, umawit ng papuri! Sapagkat ngayon, ika’y pinili (Junjun Borres, S.J., Vic Baltazar, S.J., and Manoling Francisco, S.J., “Bayan Umawit”).
In the course of time, liturgical music evolved and suited the needs of God’s people, in the same way that San Jose Seminary and the Josefinos responded to the different signs of the times as part of their greater response of service to God and His people. Fifty years after Vatican II, in celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, inspired by the recent Papal Visit, Josefino seminarians and alumni continue to sing the songs of Mercy and Compassion in their respective ministries.
