August 11, 2023 | Information Office
Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, arrived in PAREF Springdale School for the get-together with the members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross last August 3, 2023.
He arrived at around 3:45 PM at the driveway of PAREF Springdale School.
As soon as he arrived in the School, the members of the School Board and the Management Committee members of PAREF Springdale School and PAREF Southdale Preschool warmly expressed their welcomes and well wishes for the Father, as he is fondly called.
They were warmly greeted and welcomed by PAREF families who were also eagerly waiting for him in the School Quadrangle. To everyone he chanced to have a short chat, he never ceased to ask for prayers with his promise to pray for them in return.
They then proceeded to the School’s Chapel to visit Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Before proceeding to the School Auditorium for the get-together, they dropped by the School’s Holy Family Wall Shrine, which was blessed and inaugurated earlier in the year, in the Quadrangle.
The features of the Wall Shrine was explained to the Father. He was presented with the study of the Wall Shrine, which he lovingly affixed his signature.
The Wall Shrine was also the setting for the short musical performances of PAREF Springdale students who offered songs and played the violin for those present.
The Father showed his appreciation for the performers by clapping his hands with a sparkling smile on his face.
After the short presentations, he went to the School Auditorium for the get-together, where around 30 priests and bishops of the Priestly Society from the different archdioceses in the Visayas and Mindanao, zealously received him.
The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross is an association of clergy closely affiliated with the Prelature of Opus Dei. It aims to promote holiness among secular priests by serving the Church and following the spiritual practices of Opus Dei.
The intimate get-together was an opportunity for the priests to hear and learn the Father’s thoughts and advice on their various pastoral concerns.
After blessing the priests in attendance and asking them for their blessing, he departed for the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu to pay homage to the Holy Child.
As a way of expressing their appreciation for his visit, the School Management Committee gave them images of the Holy Family with the request of praying for the PAREF Schools system in the Philippines.