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The Jubilarian Jesuits Series chronicles the stories of three Jesuit priests from the Loyola House Jesuit Community of Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, who are celebrating their jubilees this year. These profiles, penned by Stephen Pedroza, attempt to draw the various facets of their vocation, their ideas of the present world, and the lessons we can learn from their narratives that cut across religions and differences.

Fr Jose Dacanay SJ has been a Jesuit for 70 years. Coming from a moneyed family, he chose to get on board the USS General Meigs in 1946 crossing the Pacific from Shanghai, China to San Francisco, California, and went on to traverse a religious path. He sits comfortably at the receiving area of the Loyola House after many colorful decades, reminiscing about his good old days.


Fr Jose Dacanay SJ, photographed by Stephen Pedroza, in July 2016.

The date was September 23, 1946, a little more than a year after the end of the Second World War. A young man was traveling to Los Gatos, California to start a new chapter in his life.

“Leaving San Francisco, I took the Southern Pacific Railroad to San Jose, California,” he recounts. “Along the way, the train got derailed. I was the only passenger in the car (passenger coach) I was riding in. I didn’t know where the other parts went. The car I was in was squeezed in the middle of two buildings. I could not get out.”

Young Jose Dacanay was stunned for a while. He could not get out. It was a ride he could not forget, for at that time he was expected to arrive at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos. But he did not panic.

“When finally I was able to get out, I said, ‘I need to be on a train going south, going to San Jose,’” he says. “I arrived in San Jose at 10:30 at night. I then took a taxi to Los Gatos, about 15 miles of travel. The taxi was reluctant at first but I told the driver that I will pay for everything.”

The Sacred Heart Novitiate had an H-shaped building, with one side for the novitiates and the other side for the juniorates (younger Jesuits who are still undergoing advanced formation and training). The novitiates and juniorates did not talk to one another.

“The next morning I was awakened by the sound of quails, very cute birds with a white tip on their heads,” he describes. “I woke up early, around 4AM. New place, I couldn’t sleep, and so on. Eventually, the bell rang.”

The morning after the train accident was his introduction to the Novitiate. The program was laid out by their superior after breakfast.

“Our Novitiate was on a land-grant university or college. The Jesuit missionaries told the authorities that they would establish a university, now the University of Santa Clara in Santa Clara, California. The land grant area also covered a redwood forest called the Big Basin, a very beautiful place.”

At the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Dacanay underwent a four-year formation program from 1946 to 1950.

“We also developed about 4000 acres of land for fruits, specifically, grapes, and other productions for two reasons: first, to sell house wine to parishes; and second, to sell fruits. During my stay there, I also worked as a tutor, part-time repairman, electrician, and other jobs,” he says.

“Everybody did what they were supposed to do. That was the beginning of our formation. We had books to read, spiritual diaries of saints to read. The formators also gave us discussions on fraternal charity.”

In particular, there was an exercise designed to help the novitiates get to know their fellow Jesuits better that Fr Dacanay fondly shares. “We were grouped by three and at the end of the week, on Saturday — we have the entire day— to say in the nicest possible ways, what we like and what we did not like about each other.” He laughs as he recalls.

“Not in an accusatory way, you tell each other your impressions of that person. Then next week, you have another group and so on.”

After Los Gatos, from 1953 to 1956, Dacanay took his regency at Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro and Ateneo de Naga in Naga City, two years for each school, where he taught Latin, Physics, and Religion.

He then took his priesthood vows on June 20, 1959, at the Fordham University Chapel in Bronx, New York, and his final vows at the Ateneo de Davao University Chapel in Davao City on August 15, 1964.

From 1961 to 2004, Fr Jose Dacanay SJ was assigned in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga del Sur, and Bukidnon, among other parts of the Philippines.

In 1978, he served as the fifth parish priest of Kalilangan, a laid-back town in southwest Bukidnon, stretched out thinly along the Maradugao River bordering the Province of Lanao del Sur.

During this year, the convent of the Sisters of St Charles Borromeo was built on the side of their local church. Fr Dacanay felt the immense need to unite the parishioners. Thus, with the support of local leaders and the faithful, the Parish Pastoral Council was formed. Besides spearheading various community projects, the group of catechists he organized during his term conducted seminars, specifically on natural family planning. Fr Dacanay also helped in establishing the Christian Life Communities.

According to the document “Swampy Beginnings Yet Firmly Believing (The History of San Vicente Ferrer Parish)” written by Sem Eric G Cantones and edited by Fr Oscar O Gorgonio, during his time, Fr Dacanay “had to contend with the internal violence due to insurgency and counter-insurgency between the rebels and the government forces. He has fired salvos directed against the excesses and abuses committed by the military within the municipality [of Kalilangan].”

It was during this time that the church apostolates became “suspects of anti-government activities.”

“There are things I don’t want to remember,” Fr Dacanay says. “I only want to remember the things that stood out.”

When he was assigned at Central Mindanao University, he also supported 36 Bukidnon students to finish their secondary education and college.

“This is not my doing,” he quips. “Fourteen of them became priests and two dozen became sisters. I don’t know why.”

Since 2014, following a heart attack, Fr Dacanay has been watching his health more closely. “What I do during my spare time is pray to the Lord,” he says.

When asked how to invite young men to join the Society of Jesus, he replies: “It’s not for me to answer that. Why do you want to join the Jesuits? What for?”

Instead, Fr Dacanay gives a piece of simple advice to the millennials: “Be responsive.”

“It’s a short-expression but there’s a lot of meaning in it. Be responsive. The reason why I’m saying this is because I think the youth of today are making their world smaller and smaller. There are tensions. They have more time in virtual reality. That’s what they do and that’s terrible,” he continues. “We must still talk to each other personally.”

Pope Francis, he says, sets a good example for today’s youth. “What [Pope Francis] has done is he called upon the people in the Church, who are in the job of teaching bishops, priests, sisters and so on, to be more human, to be more understanding.”

To understand the profile of Fr Dacanay is to understand his family background and the strong faith of his nanny.

“My daddy was an up-and-coming rich man. He decided to become a rich man. He was a businessman. He went to China to develop an import business, buying and selling, mostly petroleum. My mother was from Manila. All she had known her whole life was Manila. It was the turn of the century. Then they went to China, specifically in Shanghai. It has grown into an international city; it was for people with money,” he says.

Fr Dacanay was born in Shanghai, China on June 21, 1925 to Feliciano Dacanay and Jovita Arcega.

“When we were growing up, my siblings and I have our own nannies. From the time I wake up until I go to sleep, my days were spent with my nanny by my side,” he recalls. “My nanny was very religious. She took care of my food, clothing, and taking me to watch a Chinese opera on the weekend. On Saturday mornings, she used to take me to the park to listen to orchestral music.”

Fr Dacanay is grateful to his nanny as he continues his childhood story: “What I learned about faith, I learned it from my nanny. It was my nanny who influenced me.”

His nanny, whom he would not name, was with him when he received his first communion and confirmation. “‘I renounce the devil and I promise to be faithful to Jesus Christ forever’ was my first lesson about faith and the one who taught me that was my nanny.”

Although Fr Dacanay came from a well-off family, he did not get everything he wanted growing up.

“I grew up in a time when families would decide that those children who are not so bright, who are not so forward-looking will be put to the seminary. He’ll get a career there as a collarless individual. He won’t do anything very wrong,” Fr Dacanay says, referencing the story of one of his uncles. 

So why did he enter the Catholic Church to become a priest?

He answers: “I came to a point when I had to pay a debt. It was a matter of how. So I decided to enter the religious life, where I got to learn a lot of things. I learned how to weld, how to repair things, how to climb a tree. It was interesting.”

The year is 2016, the age of tweets, hashtags, likes, Snaps, apps, LTE, and emoticons. While it may still take a long time for some “digital immigrants” to fully understand the new media, one thing is already clear: technology is changing our lives. Particularly for the young, "being responsive" could just be a click away.

However, 91-year-old Fr Dacanay still relishes the time when he was young, full of energy, and adventurous when he once climbed a 60-foot tree in a remote area. He was trying to install an insulator when the wind suddenly blew strong. Fr Dacanay almost fell, but he embraced the tree like he was embracing his entire dear life. It was one of his good old days.∎

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