UA&P celebrated Founder’s Week from October 2 to 7 with a week of prayer, formation and service that culminated in a video screening and panel discussion on St. Josemaría Escrivá for NSTP freshmen and employees. The celebration, themed “Formed to Make a Difference,” honored the University’s origins and the legacy of the founder of Opus Dei, whose teaching holds that personal formation and the sanctification of ordinary life prepare people to change the lives of others through their work and relationships.
The week opened on October 2 with a Thanksgiving Mass at the Sancta Maria Stella Orientis (SMSO) Oratory, offered in gratitude for the founding of Opus Dei. A merienda cena get-together for employees and students followed at the Business Lounge. On October 3, Atty. Yvette Valdez led “Well-Being in a Wired World,” a parenting workshop at the Li Seng Giap Auditorium on the family as a school of virtue. The Community Rosary at Our Lady’s Shrine in the CAS Garden followed on October 5.
The week also had a service component. With the Month of the Holy Rosary under way, the University launched “Donate a Rosary,” inviting community members to hang new or unused rosaries on the Tree of Prayer at the shrine. Each rosary is blessed and given, with a simple guide on how to pray it, to contracted employees, including security and service personnel, and to food concessionaires and their families. The Tree of Prayer also holds written intentions, which will be given to the University Chaplaincy at the end of the month.
The October 7 program drew NSTP freshmen and employees to the Li Seng Giap Auditorium. Dr. Gladys Golo, Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs, introduced the afternoon by linking St. Josemaría’s teaching on work and study done with love to the NSTP spirit of service.
The audience then watched about 25 minutes of footage. It began with St. Josemaría’s get-togethers with university students, including a 1974 meeting in Argentina. Clips of Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the current Prelate of Opus Dei, on pastoral visits to New York, New Zealand and Argentina followed.
A one-hour panel took up the questions raised in the videos. It featured Fr. Raffy Quinto, a priest and computer science graduate; Sailah Guerra, an IMC alumna who leads the youth formation initiative Project Ignite in Quezon; Carlo Quijano, a Management student; and Syamie Gambe, a Political Economy student and president of Alab. Rounds included a Myth or Fact segment played with green and red cards, a “Hot Seat” of everyday dilemmas, and an open forum capped by “Ask Fr. Raffy.” UA&P President Atty. Philip Yeung closed the panel discussion by presenting tokens of thanks to the panelists.
Alab, the student arm of the Chaplaincy, led a Community Rosary on October 8 at the SMSO Oratory, while the Donate a Rosary initiative continued until October 9. When the donation, the blessed rosaries, each with a simple guide on how to pray it, will go to the security guards, service personnel and food concessionaires who keep the campus running, and to their families.