A Blessed Solemnity of the Assumption of the BVM 2021

As we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast very dear to our hearts, we are reminded once again how blessed we are to be given the opportunity to experience the life inside the Sisters of Mary's Boystowns and Girlstowns and to witness God's miracles unfold in our own lives.

As Pope Francis reminds us in today's feast, "Taken up into heaven, Mary shows us the way to God. The way to heaven. The way to life." May our Blessed Mother be our model of generosity and faithfulness from birth to death. She learned to surrender everything to God and trust God's plan for her. May our lives be a living witness as well to God's faithfulness and generosity especially in this time of the pandemic, a sign of hope for a world marred by sin and aggravated by poverty and calamities (both natural and man-made). May the Blessed Virgin Mary continue to intercede for us.

And so, with grateful hearts, we continue to remember the many graces and blessings we received from God through the intercession of Our Lady, the Virgin of the Poor. We thank our ever-caring and ever-loving Sisters of Mary and our beloved Fr. Al, who founded this great institution 57 years ago today.

God bless us all and Happy Birthday to everyone! Cheers! 

***

"All praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving to the Virgin of the Poor."

- Venerable Aloysius Schwartz (1930 - 1992)

2021: 57th Foundation of the Sisters of Mary (Korea) and 36th for the Philippines

August 15, 1964 - Fr. Al started the family-unit orphan program and accepted the first group of children in Korea. It became the official foundation day of the Sisters of Mary, the religious congregation of women, now numbering over 400 and currently working in Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras and Tanzania, Africa.

In 1985,  Fr. Al arrived in Manila at the invitation of then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to begin the Boystown and Girlstown program in the Philippines. With a handful of Sisters, he began the medical program for destitute tuberculosis patients at the Quezon Institute while the Boystown/Girlstown complex in Sta. Mesa, Manila was being constructed. [Source: Killing Me Softly: The Inspiring Story of a Champion of the Poor]

August 15 has been designated as well as the universal birthday of each child under the care of the Sisters of Mary in its villages worldwide (Boystowns and Girlstowns).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF FR. AL'S CHILDREN and HAPPY FOUNDATION DAY TO THE SISTERS OF MARY! 

***

Here are some throwback photos of the Foundation Day 2002 in Biga Campus from the files of the late Fr. James 'Jim' Ferry, MM. Thanks to Fr. Jim Kroeger, MM.

In photos: Fr. Ferry, MM and Fr. Urrutia, SJ, Sisters, Children, Teachers/Staff and Guests at the 17th Foundation Day Celebration and Inauguration of the SMS Track Oval at the Biga Campus in Silang, Cavite, Philippines

“This is the secret of constant joy: Unselfishness, which means love. You must be unselfish to practice charity. You must go out to others and think of them.”
– Venerable Fr. Aloysius Schwartz