by Dionnie Salanatin
The town of San Joaquin is indeed one of the oldest in the province of Iloilo. A local parish was established in the year 1869 the same year the St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary was established, making it as the fifth oldest seminary in the country and the last one founded by the Spaniards during their regime. There has been countless number of Parish Priests who administered San Joaquin and people treasured a lot of memories about them, both good and bad.
I had this rare chance to talk with one of the closest and most active persons in the parish who happened to work for priests as their secretary for around thirty years now. She devoted her entire life as secretary and even forgoes marriage because of her love and dedication to the local parish and her work. Nanay is able to serve around six Parish Priests now, some already passed away, and she had a great number of memories, both good and bad, about each of them and some of which she decided to keep and ponder deep in her heart for the rest of her life, for those were not for others to know.
I really admire nanay for her kindness towards her present and previous Parish Priests, “the San Joaqueños do not usually talk about the humiliating things done by our priests, and people would usually keep quiet and accept the fact that priests are humans too- capable and not exempted from committing sins, like us”, she said in Hiligaynon. She may be right and I totally agree with her opinion, in terms of human respect especially to priests I would refuse to discuss in public about their mischiefs and previous troubles they were into. However, I do not take this as an excuse for priests have to be often in the state of grace as spiritual leaders, and that is already presumed in the truest sense.
Looking at the brighter side, of course, San Joaquin would never be what it was able to achieve now if not for the brave men who courageously embraced the vocation to priesthood in the name of sacrifice and love for service. The faith continues to flourish in the town even until now, considering its topography it requires a great deal of sacrifice to any priest assigned there.
Nanay could still remember how she became a witness in times when temptations were lurking around her boss. She would oftentimes let them be but sometimes she would not hesitate to drive the temptations away only to protect the priest. Vices, such as drinking and smoking, are for her tolerable but temptations that would endanger the priest’s life or vocation must be better fight off as early as possible and in the best of her capability as a secretary. But for the things she has no control of, she would rather close her eyes and tame her tongue.
She recalled how painful it was to the San Joaqueños when they heard about the scandal of the two priests who decided to get married with their “sotanas” on, especially that one of them is from their town. It was tragic, indeed, from then on they have long prayed hard that someday another San Joaqueño priest would redeem the town’s name and will bring back honour and pride to the people of San Joaquin.
She would also enjoy telling her experiences about the seminarians who did their pastoral work in their town and later on became priests. It is truly her pride serving them as future priests. For nanay they were her treasures to keep for the rest of her life.
There is neither good nor bad memories for nanay but only God given experiences. Let things be as they are especially those one fails to control. Only two things are certain for her: respect and understanding. Those were her secret in staying for around thirty years in the parish and why the present and previous Parish Priests would also treasure her. Their memories are for her to keep.
Philo Notes 