GREEN ODE to IT

100 Years: 10 decades, 10 seedlings for the next 100 years
LuZone Goes Green
Photo by Mariq Cabanig

TRIBUTE: Ceremonial Act of Thanksgiving, 3 December 2010

Remembering the Centennial Launch: 3 Dec. 2010

Saint Pedro Poveda College Auditorium 

We are gathered together to celebrate 3 significant occasions: first, the birthday of Saint Pedro Poveda, founder of the TA, in 1874; second, the launch of the Teresian Association’s centenary 2010-2011 and third the closing of Saint Pedro Poveda College’s Golden Jubilee 1960-2010.

1.   The President of the Teresian Association, Loreto Ballester, although she is not able to be with us here today, joins us in our celebration… Rosalinda Basas, member of the Teresian Association Governing Council, shares with us Loreto Ballester’s message.

2.    For the 60 years that the Teresian Association has been in the Philippines, the vocation and mission of the TA would not have blossomed and flourished without the leadership of its Sector Council, ACIT Board and the different Board of Trustees of the different TA corporations and Foundations.  Our TA members and some of those who have gone ahead of us perseveringly kept the Povedan charism & TA mission alive.

3.    TA HONOREES

Having recently celebrated Thanksgiving, we still continue today to give thanks. By the grace of God, we are fortunate to be here, coinciding in this lifetime to witness a rare occasion: the commemoration of those challenging and fruitful 100 years, the centennial of the Teresian Association. 

With such heartfelt gratitude, TA Philippines would like to take this opportunity to especially honor and give recognition to our very own TA members who began in the early years of the TA in Spain and who also brought the Teresian Association to the Philippines:

      

a.    Maria Teresa Barrenechea has been a TA member for 78 yrs. She is one of the oldest members of the TA in the world, she was in the general council of Josefa Segovia in the 50s until Josefa Segovia’s death in 1957, she was one of those responsible for founding the TA in Portugal (1946); England (1947), France (1949) Ireland (1950); Belgium (?); United States (1960); Germany (1960); & Colombia.  She was one of 5 members preparing for China as well but reached Manila in 1995 instead and has been living here in the Philippines since.

b.   Anita Garcia came to the Philippines in 1955 and lived here until 1971. She returned to the Philippines in 2005 after having lived in Spain, Italy, Jordan and Israel.  She has been a member for 62 years. 

c.    Maruxa Pita, fondly called señorita Maruxa, is our Spanish Filipina member having lived in the Philippines since 1959. She has probably lived here longer than most of us who are here now.  Maruxa was Poveda’s school director from 1965-1973 and has been a TA member for 60 years. She co-established the Makabata School Foundation in 1995.  Maruxa has a sister who also is a Teresian Association Member.

TA Philippines would not have grown to 100 plus members had it not been for the 1^st Filipino TA members.  They were born in the TA in the 1950s and 60s and like fine wine growing with age, so have they. The succeeding years, and up to this very moment, have seasoned them to continue living the legacy of Saint Pedro Poveda keeping always that Teresian vocation aflame:

Lourdes Custodio (1954/1960), Concepcion Banaag (1954/1961), Cecilia Legarda (1955/1963), Teresita Barcelon (1957/1964), Eufrosina Villegas (1958/1966), Thelma Palabrica (1961/1968), Leticia Celeste (1961/1968), Elsa Rubias (1961/1969).  

We also recognize the 1^st ACIT Members of the Philippines. This pioneering group established in the 70s was known as Matrimonios ACIT or TA married couples. They were parents of the Institución Teresiana school: Mrs. Nenuca Santos, Mrs. Ella Silva, Mrs. Piluchi de la Vega and Mrs. Pilaring Villanueva, Mrs. Celia de Jesus (deceased).

4.   We also present the other 100 plus TA members who are also here today: the TA Primary Association & ACIT.  “We are the Members of the Teresian Association”.

5.  The Teresian Association is greatly recognized in Manila through its only school in the Philippines and Asia, Saint Pedro Poveda College.  When it was first established in 1960, it was then known as Institución Teresiana.  In 1974, it changed its name to Poveda Learning Centre to commemorate the birth centennial of the TA founder, Pedro Poveda.  Then in 2004, a year after the founder’s canonization, the school added a tertiary level and was thus appropriately renamed Saint Pedro Poveda College.  Saint Pedro Poveda College opened the celebration of its 50 years on December 3 last year.  Today, Dec.3, it joins in celebration with the TA centenary as it closes its Golden Jubilee.

And most importantly, the Teresian Association thanks you all, present here this afternoon and all those who join us in spirit, for all the years you have journeyed with us and for being a part of the Teresian Association Family and community.

Together we sing with a song close to the hearts of all Teresian Association Members, BAJO TU AMPARO… with deep gratitude to our Lady of Covadonga, La Santina, we REMEMBER our humble beginnings and we CELEBRATE Poveda’s good idea and the birth of the Teresian Association.

Ceremonial Act of Sowing the Seeds: IT's 100 Years

23 January 2011

Introduction:

We gather in fellowship to sow the seeds of 100 fruitful years.  We praise, glorify and thank God and Mother Earth for the roots of our Teresian existence, with each tree signifying an emblematic representation of a decade in our Teresian life and mission.  Each seedling corresponds to the 10 groupings and localities we are present in, both ACIT and Primary Associations: Pedro Poveda, Josefa Segovia, Victoria Diez and Sta. Teresa Groupings in Manila, Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon and Davao.

 

We begin the ceremonial act of planting:

1^st decade: We sow the seed of the 1^st 10 years of the Teresian Association, our foundational years and Marian Devotion and where IT all began,…Covadonga 1911. Inspired by the teaching and life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Poveda named the association Institución Teresiana. The first tree.

 

2^nd decade: The second tree.  We sow the seed of vocation and our committed lay presence. As salt of the earth, the Academias grew and the associations flourished (asociación primaria, cooperadoras técnicas, juventud misionera, antiguas alumnas) under the direction of its 1^st President, Josefa Segovia the embodiment of that Teresian spirit.

 

3^rd decade: The third tree. We sow the seed of fortitude, love and martyrdom. We suffered the loss of our founder and one member. Notwithstanding, Victoria Diez and Poveda’s death and martyrdom paved the way for greater strength, fortitude and love.

 

4^th decade: The fourth tree. We sow the seed of renewed life and propagation to new destinations. The Teresian Association expands and shares its charism to the different continents.

 5^th decade: The fifth tree. We sow the seed of welcoming a new era. We pray our goodbyes to our dear director in perpetuity, Josefa Segovia; and with her dream we looked at a newer horizon and set foot in the Philippines, the first presence in Asia.

6^th decade: The sixth tree. We sow the seed of rebirthing. ACIT is born anew.

7^th decade: The seventh tree. We sow the seed the individual presences in public posts - our mission of being the salt of the earth, of seasoning the tasteless and transforming taste to the lives of the people.  .

8^th decade: The eighth tree.  We sow the seed of creating a new culture: faith-justice and inter-religious dialogue and a culture of peace…in the family, in our community and in the world.

 

9^th decade: The ninth tree. We sow the seed of going back to our roots as an association of the faithful. We embarked on walking together with a common mission project which has begun to fortify our associative unity.

10^th decade: The Last tree. Pedro Poveda’s sainthood is a constant call to holiness more than ever.  Finally, we sow the seed of our holy mission. We look towards a more blessed future, the beginning of the next 100 years. It all began in Covadonga and wherever it may flourish again, may the Povedan charism live forever.