Monday, December 04, 2006 A Lifetime of Caritas Et Scientia By Jenara Regis Newman
REV. Fr. Blas Jalon Montenegro, OAR, has lived a life of Caritas et Scientia—Love and Knowledge—which makes him the most fitting person to be the first recipient of the award of the same name.
The award was conceived as part of the celebration of the 400th year presence of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects (OAR) in the Philippines. In Cebu, the presence is at the Recollect Church and the school beside it, the University of San Jose Recoletos, a school Fr. Montenegro helped in achieving university status.
Fr. Montenegro was born in Medrono, Logroño, Spain, in 1926. He said he had the vocation to become a priest when he was still in his mother’s womb. His parents, Sevirino Montenegro and Eusebia Jalon had a dozen children, half of whom died in childhood. Of the six who survived, one died in the Spanish civil war, a daughter and a son got married, and three became Recollects. Fr. Montenegro says he was still in his mother’s womb when his older brother was in the seminary.
Fr. Montenegro hoped to become a missionary in China but by the time he became priest, the Chinese Communists were expelling missionaries from China and he was sent to the Philippines in 1949, where he applied to become a missionary in Palawan. His superiors thought better and sent him to Cebu, to Collegio de San Jose-Recoletos, where he was assistant prefect then prefect of discipline in the years 1949 to 1953. He was assigned to other Recollect schools in the Philippines but was back in 1976 as president of the school, after which term, he was vice-president for public relations and coordinator of community outreach projects. It was in San Jose that he earned his education degree and his master of arts in education.
As president of San Jose, he “articulated a vision as to the kind of education CSJ-R is to impart: “Quality Christian Community Oriented Education.” He revitalized the slogan Adelante (Forward), and added to it... “To a New World through a New Youth” and “Only the best is good enough for San Jose!” To improve the school spirit and to further inculcate a forward-looking Christian-educated youth, he wrote the lyrics of the school song with Fr. Rudy Villanueva composing the music.
He is credited with laying the groundwork for the college to achieve university status and it was during his term that San Jose started to offer graduate courses. For the faculty, he started a ranking scheme and a retirement plan and for the whole Josenian community, he concretized “the real essence of volunteerism…" when he implemented the school’s Community Outreach projects.
In one school function when the entertainment was focused on making fun of a pregnant woman (for him an absolute no-no, for he considers motherhood precious), he redirected the school’s cultural vision.
Fr. Montenegro believes in team-building and sometimes says his other name is “Team.” He believes in teamwork and says that if the team is strong, the organization is strong. He expects people around him to speak out if there’s a problem so it can be solved, resolved together.
Fr. Montenegro says he was in the Philippines for 40 years and in his home country for only 22. He was assigned to San Jose three times. He is a naturalized Filipino. Now retired from the academic scene, he has been assigned to handle parishes in the US East Coast. Currently, he is parish priest of a poor parish in New Jersey but even from there, he continuous to help in the University of San Jose’s community outreach program he started. He has given himself a target of sending $100,000 for a scholarship program to be given to the most needy but deserving youth. He has already remitted over $60,000 because his parish, though poor, realizes that whatever it gives, it will go directly to the beneficiary.
Last year, he relates that a nine-year boy gave him $96 from his alkansiya. This gesture embodies what he means when he says the city of God is the whole world like a family. “Love of God, the spirit of God, of love is forgetting oneself for the love of God and love of others.” In order to do that, one must develop oneself to the maximum to be able to help the needy. “Caritas et Scientia..” The spirit of the Augustinian Recollects, of the University of San Jose, the spirit of Fr. Blas Montenegro. When he receives the award from the University of San Jose-Recoletos on December 9, it will be a public affirmation of his life live in Caritas et Scientia.
