The first ever gathering of religious brothers of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament was held at the Eymard Campbell Retreat House, Hanwella, Sri Lanka from the 18th February 2024. It was an initiative of the Asia-Oceania Conference and Fr. Peter Jayakanthan, SSS, the Provincial Superior of Kristu Jyothi Province of India, in his capacity as the President of the Conference coordinated the Conference.
The theme of the meeting was: “Brother is a Eucharistic gift”. There were 15 religious brothers participated from India, Vietnam and the Philippines. They were:
Br. Abalos Arthur Santiago (Philippines)
Br. Eduardo Mabilen (Philippines)
Br. Reynaldo Acabado (Philippines)
Br. Oligario Manansala (Philippines)
Br. Reno Intong (Philippines)
Br. Moses Alex Gonsalves (India)
Br. Ignatius Joseph Thambi (India)
Br. Raghumani Gardia (India)
Br. Nguyễn Bảo Huấn (Vietnam)
Br. Nguyễn Ánh (Vietnam)
Br. Vũ Hữu Phong (Vietnam)
Br. Nguyễn Văn Phương (Vietnam)
Br. Trần Huy Vũ (Vietnam)
Br. Vũ Văn Dũng (Vietnam)
Br. Phạm Đức Thành (Vietnam)
We were pleased to welcome Fr. Roel De La Cruz, SSS, the newly appointed Asian Consultor representing the General Council, Fr. Philip Watkins, the Provincial Superior of the Province of the Holy Spirit, Australia, and Fr. Peter Jayakanthan, SSS, the Provincial Superior, India, who was also the President of the Asia-Oceania Conference. Fr. Tri Hong Bach, SSS from Vietnam, acted as a facilitator and translator to our Vietnamese brothers. We also had Fr. Agostinho Maholele, SSS from Mozambique, as the resource person who shared his knowledge on the Servant of God, Bro. Giovanni Nadiani, along with the SSS history.
Bro. Nicholas Fernando from the Marist Brothers Congregation addressed the gathering on the uniqueness of being a religious brother today. Bro. Christopher Rodrigo of the Salesian order made his sharing on the topic: “Fraternal life: Space for human maturity”. At the end of the meet, the brothers were delighted to be addressed virtually by Rev. Fr. Philip Benzy, the Superior General.
Along with the fraternal sharing and input talks, the brothers had the opportunity to visit some of our communities, including Christ the King Church, Mahena, Blessed Sacrament Scholasticate, Kandy, Eymard House of Priests, Nuwaraeliya, and St. Philip Neri’s Church, Pettah. They carry with them beautiful memories of our religious, parishioners, and friends.
As a Province, we were happy to host this program and are grateful to the Congregation for the opportunity given to welcome our religious brothers. We hope to have a follow-up based on the feedback and recommendations we received.
