Ateneo de Iloilo-SMCS' new site groundbreaking rites up Saturday
After the fiesta-like celebration of the launching of its Golden Jubilee late last week, Ateneo de Iloilo-Santa Maria Catholic School will now hold the most-anticipated groundbreaking ceremonies of its P200-million new campus during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this Saturday, December 8, at Donato Pison Avenue, Brgy. San Rafael, Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
No less than Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Jaro Archdiocese head Arch. Angel Lagdameo, Father Provincial of the Society of Jesus Fr. Daniel Patrick Huang, SJ, Iloilo City Mayor and Ateneo de Manila University alumna Jerry Treñas, and AdI-SMCS president Fr. Manny Uy, SJ, will be leading the prayerful celebration of the pioneering event which will start at 8 a.m. Benefactors, members of the school's Board of Trustees, administrators, alumni, teachers, students, and parents will also be in attendance.
The 7-hectare, Jesuit, Chinese-Filipino educational facility is expected to be partly in operation late next year as one of the highlights in the observance of the school's 50th anniversary. Subsequently, the five-story grade school and the two-story pre-school buildings, among others, will already be operational. Should the new AdI-SMCS complex project's fund raising drive will go on as planned, the five-story high school building, the Olympic-sized track-field, the swimming pool, and the covered coliseum will soon follow.
Commenting on the project, Fr. Uy, SJ, said "in St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he says, 'we walk by faith, and not by sight;' this enterprise is the work of Divine Providence."
"The Lord will bring it to completion; like the Blessed Mother, we trust and we believe that He will guide us, workers in the vineyard," Fr. Uy, SJ, added to stress the school's philosophy in engineering the most massive project by far in the area of basic education in Western Visayas.
The Saturday morning program will be highlighted by the ceremonial groundbreaking and the blessing rite by Arch. Lagdameo and the Jesuit fathers, and the burying of a "time capsule" which contains school's architectural plans, a piece of wood of the old Santa Maria Catholic School main door, historical and religious articles such as the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Patroness of AdI-SMCS) and St. Ignatius of Loyola (Founder of the Society of Jesus), among others. /Ripples