Seminary Aid Program

Fr. Bobby Sison's Good Samaritan Partnership in Mission, Inc.

The good Samaritan story in the Gospel is well known to all of us. But Father Bobby Sison was always proud to tell the story how the foundation started, how the idea of the Good Samaritan Foundation was born.

His story was... "It really first started with the humble project of helping poor seminarians in the Philippines. One day in 1981... while preparing for the Christian Mass for the Filipinos in Long Island, Manny and Norma Pascual introduced me to a man who I thought was a priest. Having not prepare my homily for the occasion, I immediately asked him to preach at Mass. John Percocco, that is his name, readilly accepted the offer. He talked about the crisis of voccation in the United States and the need to support seminarians. I said to myself, 'My God, he is a good preacher. I am sure he will be a bishop someday.' After Mass at the table, I found out that John was a father of 3 children with a beautiful wife. From him I learned of seminaries in the Philippines who who wrote him seeking assistance in looking for ways to maintain 7 seminarians, in their last years in the seminary but were about to be sent home because of financial family problem.

A meeting was set. There was a big storm on the meeting date. The meeting was delayed for 2 hours, but everybody came, despite the knee-deep snow, even those who drove from far places. When the plight of the seven seminarians were presented, six scholarship were immediately taken by those whose town or provinces were closest to their own. One was left without a sponsor.

A week after the meeting, John Percocco, called me up and manifested his desire to sponsor the last seminarians. I told him point blank. 'John, you are jobless. You have a family to support and therefore, you can not afford to sponsor a seminarian.' You konw what his answere to me was? 'Father, God for now, will take of my family. When my seminarian becomes a priest, his prayer will be our strength.' Jonh did accepted odd jobs, cleaning dishes, delivering groceries, cutting grasses, etc... just to make extra $30.00 to give to his seminarian monthly. After six months he found a stable job. His seminarians, now Fr. Bartolome Dumalag, was the first scholar of the Seminary Aid program to be ordained prient. When I informed John about the coming Ordination of Fr. Dumalag and asked him whether we would like to attend the Ordination in the Philippines, his answer to me was, 'Father, I can not afford it. It is already a joy to me that now I have a priest in the family.

This experience inspired me a lot. It convinced me that there are people-many people who are big-hearted and willing to help. The next thing to having a priest in the family is to support one."

Fr. Bobby founded the Good Samaritan Foudation, rename to Good Samaritan Partnership in Mission Inc., now known as Fr. Bobby's Good Samaritan Partnership in mission, Inc. originaly aimed at helping needy students for the priesthood in his home Diocese in Calbayog, Samar. Later it was expanded to include other areas because such program would be beneficial to other dioceses in the Philippines. It could help not only needy priests and parishers but also the underprivileged residents in barrios and town.

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