June 12, 2008. Fr Eligio Cruz, SDB was appointed and accepted as the New Provincial Superior of the Salesian Philippine North Province (FIN).
The province faces a lot of changes at the moment as a major revamp of new obediences has been taking place since the start of the year. As the Society observes the signs of the times while answering to all the needs of the houses, the passion and vision of its members remain consistent with the teachings of our father Don Bosco.
Lately, the Former Provincial of FIN, Fr Andrew Wong, SDB has been appointed as the New Regional Superior of Asia-Australia, and in his absence followed the consultation for the next provincial of FIN. After some days of consultation to the different provincial districts and a month of waiting, the New Provincial rises from his rectorship in Mandaluyong.
Fr Eli, as he is fondly called is a man of big heart – a heart bigger than the world. He was my Rector in Mandaluyong way back my high school years. He has been a father, a teacher, a guide, and most importantly a friend to me.
Born with a golden tongue, he is a popular resource person and a great homilist of the Society. He manipulates media gracefully in his propagation of the equality of men and women, the value of work and prayer, the attainment towards holiness, the Preventive System of St John Bosco, and the teachings of the Catholic Church.
There is a world greater than your own, he would often say. From him I learned the value of generosity, suffering, and self-denial. We were taught to become men of influence; of substance; of character. From the award-winning billboards on the city highways to the smallest tarpaulins in the different corners of the campus, he reminds us the core of our Bosconian identity which explicitly empowers us, Ascende Superius!
