“I take St. Therese as my sister,” quoted Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal on the Fiesta Bisperas of St. Therese of Lisieux last September 30 in the Indiana Aerospace University (IAU) St. Therese Chapel.
Cardinal Vidal gave his message after the Eucharistic celebration with Msgr. Esteban Binghay as the main presider and with Rev. Fr. Rudy Bugna and Rev. Fr. Jerome Mesina, OSA, as concelebrants.
In his message, he shared that he would always ask the divine intercession of St. Therese during examinations. When was not to be allowed to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders because he was sickly, he turned to St. Therese. He also thanked Aviation department head Capt. Stephen Toring for a miniature replica of the RP-C 50 Cessna plane, the aircraft used for the showering of petals during the Sinulog Festival Fluvial Parade.
When Vidal was asked in an interview about the youth who has gone astray from the Catholic faith, he only had to say this: “You have to go back to where you came from, the family. If the family has lost its contact with the Lord and cannot transmit the faith on you, what kind of faith would you have? Then, you have to go back to the Church because we have to train the family on how to transmit the faith.” He was also made to give an advice to the grantees of the Cardinal Vidal Scholarship.
“I am very much honoured that it is under my name but it is always at the direction of him Dr. Jovenal B. Toring, IAU’s Founder and President. If it is not with him, the scholarship would not exist. And even if there is a scholarship, there is a proper handling of it… But his aim is to educate people because he believes that education will improve our way of life,” he added.
The celebration for the Feast Day of St. Therese was with a mass novena on September 22 and a procession a day prior to the Fiesta Bisperas. The event also clinched the month-long celebration of Indiana Aerospace University 20th Founding Anniversary.
-Cherissa Y. Latoja
