Fr Roberto D. Dy, SJ
Immaculate Conception Chapel, Xavier University



Jesus Christ says: “Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest, and whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. Such is the case with the Son of Man who has come, not to be served by others, but to serve, to give his own life as a ransom for the many.” (Mt. 20:26-28)

It is already difficult to preach on the life and achievement of one individual. How much more difficult it is to preach on the lives and achievements of four individuals who have given their lives in service to God and to others. This is indeed a challenge and we will attempt to meet the challenge. For the celebration today is quite unique. In my sixty years of religious life in the Society of Jesus, I have not heard nor witnessed until today that four Jesuit jubilarians of 2012 are celebrating their jubilees in the same place and at the same time and in the same Jesuit Community. Fr. Estanislao A. Lagutin is celebrating his 60th year in the priesthood; Fr. Rodolfo V. Fernandez is celebrating his 5oth year in the priesthood; Fr. Leo C. Pabayo is celebrating his 50th year in the Society of Jesus; and Fr. Roberto D. Dy is celebrating his 60th year in the Society of Jesus. Moreover, Fr. Lagutin has been a Jesuit for 72 years; Fr. Fernandez has been a Jesuit for 65 years; Fr. Pabayo has been a priest for 40 years; and Fr. Dy has been a priest for 46 years. As far as the ranking among siblings goes: Fr. Lagutin is the youngest of seven brothers and sisters; he was born in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte on November 13, 1919; his parents are Moises Lagutin and Anastacia Acaylar, Fr. Fernandez is the eldest of six; he was born in Culion Palawan on September 15, 1929; his parents are Antonio Ponce de Leon Fernandez and Benita Venturillo. Fr. Pabayo is the youngest of seven; he was born in Cagayan de Oro on March 22, 1939; his parents are Antonio Pabayo and Enriqueta Crespo. Fr. Dy is the eldest of ten; he was born in Bacolod City on February 21, 1931; his parents are Vicente Dy and Presentacion Danoy.

Two years after we had entered the Society of Jesus, we pronounced the perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and promised to live and die in the same Society. It was not we who chose Christ, but it was Christ whose chose us to go forth and bear fruit (Jn 15:16) and the fruit we must bear is our service to God and to others. To prepare us for our future work of service, we were made to study man, at his best and at his worst, in the classic works of ancient and modern authors: Virgil, Cicero, Horace, Homer, Demosthenes, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Salinger and others. We moved on to the study of philosophy; in that discipline we encountered Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Descartes, Kieerkegard, Karl Marx and other philosophers. After a period of teaching during which we learned from the young, we were sent to study theology in Woodstock College in Maryland, Sophia University in Tokyo and Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City. There, we were taught by some of the great men of the Church and of the Society: John Courtney Murray, Avery Dulles, Catalino Arevalo, Gerald Healy, Peter Nemeshegi, John Clarkson. These professors in Woodstock College: John Courtney Murray, Gustav Weigel, Joseph Duhamel taught Fr. Lagutin and Fr. Dy.

After three or four years of study in theology, we were called to priestly ordinations. Fr. Lagutin was ordained in Woodstock College Chapel, Woodstock, Maryland on June 22, 1952 by Archbishop Francis Keough. Fr. Fernandez was ordained in St. Ignatius Church, Sophia University, Tokyo on March 18, 1962 by Archbishop Cardinal Doi. Fr. Pabayo was ordained in St. Augustine Cathedral, Cagayan de Oro on May 1, 1972 by Archbishop Patrick Cronin. And Fr. Dy was ordained in Fordham University Chapel, New York City on June 9, 1966 by Francis Cardinal Spellman.

After Tertianship, the last phase of our spiritual formation, we dedicated ourselves to the works of service assigned by our superiors. Fr. Lagutin walked the streets of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, of Linabo, Bukidnon and of Buug, Malangas and Subanipa, Zamboanga del Sur as parish priest. He listened to the problems and longings of the seminarians in the Regional Major Seminary in Davao city and of the seminarians of the Major Seminary in Ozamis City as spiritual director. He was also chaplain and superior at Culion, Palawan. The San Jose de Mindanao Seminary was under him as acting rector. People in Malaybalay, Bukidnon also benefited from his spiritual advice.
   
Fr. Fernandez greets you all “ Irayashi” (Welcome). Does he really speak Japanese? Sure, he does. If you wish, you may have conversation with him in Japanese during the reception. Early in his Jesuit life, he set his eyes on the foreign mission, particularly on Japan. He wrote to our Superior General and he was told to go to Japan in 1955 to study the Japanese language and culture. He had been a missionary in Japan for forty four years. In Hiroshima where the first atomic bomb was dropped, he taught the Japanese students English, Ethics, Religion and basketball. In 1999 he came back to the Philippines to work at the East Asian Pastoral Institute in the Ateneo de Manila Campus. Furthermore, he began to work again for Filipino students in the Ateneo de Manila High School as campus minister. In 2006 he became again a member of the Philippine Province.

Fr. Pabayo was assigned in Tañong, Marikina and in Buug, Zamboanga del Sur as assistant parish priest and in Margosatubig, Zamboanga del Sur as parish priest. He loved school work: he was the school director of the parish school in Margosatubig and principal of the Xavier University Grade School for seven years. He has continued to dedicate himself to the service of the young in the grade school as assistant chaplain and as chaplain for more than nine years now.

Fr. Dy had been assigned to Ateneo de Naga, Ateneo de San Pablo, Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Zamboanga and Xavier University. He had been Director of Libraries in Ateneo de Davao and Ateneo de Zamboanga. He taught Theology and English in College and Religion in High School in Ateneo de Zamboanga. He was spiritual father and later principal of the Ateneo de Zamboanga Grade School. For a change of scenery he was transferred to the Mission District of Bukidnon where he became the parish priest of Talakag and director and principal of Saint Joseph High School, Talakag, Bukidnon for eighteen years. To ease the problem of loneliness and solitude, he had more than twenty cute dogs as his companions.

Fr. Lagutin has been a priest for 60 years and a Jesuit for 72 years. Fr. Fernandez has been a priest for 50 years and a Jesuit for 65 years. Fr. Pabayo has been a priest for 40 years and a Jesuit for 50 years. And Fr. Dy has been a priest for 46 years and a Jesuit for 60 years. Our total number of years of service as priests is 196 years and our total number of years of service as Jesuits is 247 years. All those years have been years of service for God and for others, Only God knows how many baptisms we have administered, how many Masses we have celebrated, how many hosts we have consecrated, how many confessions we have heard, how many marriages we have officiated at, how many blessings we have given, how many sermons we have preached, how many sick and dying persons we have anointed with sacred oil, how many people we have counseled and consoled, how many boys and girls, young men and young women we have taught.

All these works of service, including those not mentioned, have been accomplished not by our own strength and power, but by the strength and power of God. After all, we are only instruments in the hands of God.


As we approach the twilight years of our lives, we offer this prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who have chosen your priestsfrom among men
grant that they may sanctify the world.
We pray that they may be faithful to their office
that their love for yougrow richer and richer,
so that neither distress, nor tribulation,
nor disappointmentwill be able to separate them
from the love of God,for to know and love and serve
the Father and You, his only begotten Son
and the Holy Spirit is eternal life.