CELEBRATING THE FEAST DAY OF FR. FRANCISCO BUTINYA, SJ WITH THE STREET SWEEPERS (December 19, 2015- Murphy, Philippines)

SSJ SISTERS, RESIDENTS AND STREET SWEEPERS (the ones in Yellow)

Last May 9, 2015, C-T Murphy (Juniorate, Philippines) came up with a community project for the San Roque Barangay Street sweepers(mostly women) in order to put into life the triple celebrations: Year of Butinya, Year of Consecrated life, and Year of the Poor(Philippine Church which ended last November, 2015) and specifically to pay tribute to Fr. Butinya whose passion is for the manual workers esp. women workers (in barangay San Roque, most of the street sweepers are women). The project aims to accompany the street sweepers so that they themselves will be agents of change in their own milieu, through home visitations, informal interactions, formation sessions focusing on the ssj spirituality, and congregational celebrations.

               C-T MURPHY: First Row- SISTERS MARCIE, EPPIE & EDITH
                   Second Row - JUNIOR SISTERS REGIE, GENE, TERESA, VANGIE & MARIA                   

On December 19, 2015, a day after the 116^th Death Anniversary of Fr. Francisco Butinya, SJ, the Siervas de San Jose (C-T Murphy), the residents of the the SSJ sheltering apostolate (Tahanang Paghubog Mother Bonifacia) and the street sweepers of Barangay San Roque (where the sisters and residents reside) celebrated together the death anniversary of Fr. Butinya. The celebration was held at the 3^rd floor of the Barangay San Roque Hall. 

It was a wonderful occasion of thanksgiving to God for the gift of the person of Fr. Butinya to all of us especially to the poor working world and likewise for the gift of the persons of all the street sweepers who day after day diligently and responsibly sweep the whole area of the barangay in order to maintain its cleanliness.

The spirit of joy, gratitude and appreciation of each other’s presence pervaded. The simple but strong faith in God of the street sweepers and their love for their work done in the spirit of service was very evident during the informal sharing and interaction.

The following were the highlight of the 2 ½ hours celebration:

·       Eucharistic Celebration presided by Fr. Jojo Momis, the parish priest of Our Lord’s Transfiguration Parish. The Barangay Captain, his council members and staff, and some church workers were present, too.

·       Presentation of a short video depicting the life of Fr. Butinya after the Mass

·       Informal sharing of the impact of the video to the street sweepers during snacks

·       Games

·       Short meeting to know each other better and to reset the schedule of the monthly formation session for the street sweepers facilitated by the sisters. For the year 2016, the formation session will be every 4^th Saturday of the month at 2:00 pm. 

·       Gift-giving to the street sweepers by the SSJ sisters and residents.