Our Lady of the Missions under a pinkish Tagaytay skyIt was a Tuesday afternoon last March 3 that an advance contingent (that included me) went ahead to Tagaytay City in preparation for a two-day Strategic Planning Workshop for the fledgling Center for Asian Integrity (CAI). The CAI was a consortium between the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB), the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), and the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law (IEGL) in Australia. Through CAI, these consortium partners essential sought to develop and promote relevant collaborative research and training programs and related activities that would boost integrity in both the public and private sectors here in the Philippines and in other countries within the Asia-Pacific region.
By virtue of our positions at the OMB’s Research and Special Studies Bureau (RSSB) and designations to the Center for Integrity and Professional Development (CIPD), I was among those chosen to be part of the Secretariat to provide both technical as well as administrative support to the CAI’s Technical Working Group (TWG).
As fate would have it, we had the Holy Spirit Mission Service Center in Tagaytay as our workshop venue. I think it was the first time for all of us participants to have ever entered and used this facility. And to a large extent, I thought many of us weren’t disappointed with what we experienced there for the next few days.
The Holy Spirit Mission Service Center
The Holy Spirit Mission Service Center is run by women disciples of the Mission Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit (S.Sp.S.), a religious order co-founded by Blessed Maria Helena Stollenwerk, Mother Josepha Hendrina Stemanns and St. Arnold Janssen in 1889. St. Arnold is better known to have founded the Society of the Divine Word (SSVD) for priests and brothers, and the contemplative Holy Spirit Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAp), also known as the Pink Sisters, who happen to have a convent adjacent to the Service Center.
With one of the SSpS sisters at the Center’s lobby Helping build “life-giving communities” here and abroad, in more than 40 countries, where the Triune God is to be “known, loved and experienced as a God of life and love”, the SSpS sisters promote human dignity and just relationships through their different ministries which include the following:
*Education – formal (the College of the Holy Spirit in Manila and the Holy Spirit High School in Quezon City) / informal
*Health care – in hospitals and clinics, through community-based health programs and care for persons with HIV/AIDS
*Socio-pastoral work / community-organizing (Basic Ecclesial Communities)
*Promotion of women and youth
*Retreat-giving / lay leadership formation
*Care for migrants and refugees
*Promotion of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
House Rules and Orientation during our first evening at the Center
Why call the place a service center? During the orientation, the sister who gave us an orientation explained that it the Center is a service center of one’s self, a repair shop so to speak…of our “sira”…of our brokenness. There, one can be in communion with the Triune God for healing of the heart and of the mind.
Rooms were a bit Spartan-like but very clean and functional 
I was so inspired that first evening that I immediately went down to work inside my room trying to craft an appropriate vision and mission for the CAI. The draft vision and mission statements I was able to formulate that night became good springboards during the actual deliberations the following day. In fact, later that day, my group which included Assistant Ombudsman Evelyn Baliton finished our workshop assignments and presentations with relative ease.
My room in the morning
In terms of facilities and accommodations, the Service Center has something for practically all types of seminar requirements.
Opened in May 21, 1981, the 3 and a half hectare Service Center currently has 2 buildings with 3 conteference rooms, 1 chapel and 3 prayer rooms. It also has 2 bahay kubos (nipa huts) in a spacious garden with flowering plants and towering trees.
The main building can accommodate more than 125 people in various types of private rooms and dormitories.
Picturesque garden
The grounds are filled with various flora
The Blessed Sacrament inside one of the Center’s little prayer room
One of the sisters gave me a tour of the Center grounds
There are presently four (4) sisters taking care of the Service Center. Not particularly according to age, they are the following:
Sr. Amor Maria Realubin
Sr. Madeliene Cornelio
Sr. Adelins Documa
Sr. Vilma Puzon
I’d like to say that our two-day workshop would have been a tad more uncomfortable if not for the care and hospitality of these sisters. For one, they fed us very well which is something I couldn’t say for some of those pricey hotels out there. The viands were all tasty and the servings very generous.
Rolling hills nearby are covered with pineapple
At the back of the Chapel
A garden with Stations of the Cross
The color of the sky has changed back to light blue
I took many of the pictures in this post during the second day of the workshop. One of the sisters looked for me the day before to show me a pink-colored sky in the morning, something I didn’t see for myself. While I was taking pictures, I didn’t see any such phenomena until I saw the digital photos much later. As you can see from my pictures, a tint of pink can be seen to cover the clear sunny sky. How this is possible? I have no idea!
Inside the chapel
Before we left for Manila on a Thursday afternoon, many of us bought several souvenir items at the Center including dried pineapple of talleres de nazaret made by socially challenged young women. The sisters were kind enough to give us bottles of holy water to bring home to our families.
On the way back to the metropolis, we passed by the Ilog Maria Honey Bee Farms in Silang, Mahogany Market, and Rowena’s Food Store for some more ‘pasalubong’ (homeward bound treats).
For those who want a quiet but inspired group activity in Tagaytay City like a seminar or small group conference, especially if you are planning to do it on a rather tight budget, you may want to consider this sublime location. You can inquire with the Center @ (046) 413-13-44 or with Sr. Vilma @ (0918) 387-0279.
In the Center’s lobby, a prayer for everyone who enters is written:
“May the Holy Triune God live in our hearts and in the hearts of all people”
I say amen to that! May you be inspired by God as I was…at the Holy Spirit Service Center!
Be inspired at the Holy Spirit Service Center
