ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
Katipunan Road, Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Tel. No. 426-6001
MEDIA RELEASE FOR: Aries Espinosa
People, Events and Products Editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer
DATE: August 18, 2003
REFERENCE: Ingrid Abigail M. Villafuerte
The Church of the Gesù recently celebrated its first anniversary with a campus-wide Mass, which was well attended by students, faculty, and personnel of every department of the Ateneo de Manila University.
In his homily during the anniversary of the inauguration, Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres recalled the instances in the past year where the Ateneo community gathered at the Church of the Gesù, like the UAAP Championship Mass. For him, all these events represent the dreams and aspirations that the Ateneo community shares with one another, and the University Church is the physical embodiment of these dreams. It is thus fitting that, he says, “We come to the Ateneo Church of the Gesù to affirm and nurture our spirit as Ateneo community.”
Each department of the Ateneo was well-represented in the Mass: the Ateneo Chamber Singers –composed of
young professionals from the graduate schools—provided music for the celebration, members of the Ateneo College
Ministry Group acted as altar servers during the Mass, while representatives of the grade school, high school, and faculty
served as lectors.
The Church of the Gesù affirms the Ateneo’s identity as a Catholic, Filipino, and Jesuit institution, and embodies everything the university has aspired to be and to do. As Fr. Catalino Arevalo, S.J. once said, “The Gesù is meant to speak the Word mainly by enactment in the silence of the heart’s prayer in worship by the intelligence and the highest nobilities of the human spirit, in solitude, though mainly in community. And in music, of course, in adoration, in supplication, in oblation. This is what the temple is for, this is why it is here.”
The University Church is the fulfillment of the dream of Fr. William F. Masterson, S.J. to build an icon of Jesuit vision and spirituality. It stands today at Sacred Heart Hill –crossroads of the grade school, high school, and college departments of the Ateneo—and serves as the university’s spiritual center, affirming and nurturing the Atenean spirit.