The Sin I Knew (Not What You Think!): My Personal Recollection of Cardinal Jaime Sin

By Father Erno Diaz

The Sin I Knew (not what you think) is a humble spin-off from several books of the same genre already in the shelves of bookstores and libraries. Sin Stories, The Colorful Life of Cardinal Sin, and Cardinal Sin of Manila are among them. I venture to say that more books will be written by people who worked with Cardinal Sin, by those who listened to his homilies and talks, and by the adoring public including the future biographers of this extraordinary man of God. I sometimes think that my little book will be but a footnote to the lore of books, articles, and other literature on Cardinal Sin, present and future. Nevertheless, as a life long protege of the Cardinal, I want to share what I knew about himmy personal insights and the memorable incidents and situations that may in the distant future be significant historical readings for historians like his secret meeting with President Reagan in 1984 in New York that I kind of helped broker.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514431696

Father Erno Diaz

Father Erno Diaz is presently the Administrator of the Church of the Guardian Angel in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. He has earned the distinction of being the first Filipino pastor in the Archdiocese of New York when he was appointed to St. Malachy’s Church, The Actors’Chapel, New York City in 2001. He was the founding director of the Philippine Pastoral Center from 1999 to 2005 and then of the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz from 2005 to 2009, both in Manhattan. He was the first Filipino Apostolate Coordinator of the Archdiocese of New York (1995-2008) and also of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey (1985-1990). Father Diaz founded the Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz Movement in 1982 and became its director until 2009. In New York, he served as administrator of St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Staten Island and parochial vicar of the Churches of St. Peter, Epiphany, St. Thomas More, St. Joseph of Yorkville ; Assumption in Tuckahoe; Our Lady of Lourdes in West Islip. In 1998 Cardinal John O’Connor incardinated him to the Archdiocese of New York. Father Erno entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary where he studied under Cardinal Jaime Sin, then rector of the seminary. He obtained Philosophy and Theology degrees in the Central Seminary of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. In 1969 he was ordained to the priesthood. After his ordination, he taught philosophy in St. Pius X Seminary, Capiz, Philippines. As a theology student, he was editor of Benavides, ecclesiastical journal of Central Seminary, University of Santo Tomas, 1966-68. He has written six books, namely: San Lorenzo Ruiz, Patron Saint of Filipino Immigrants (1993) ,On the Road with San Lorenzo (2005), San Lorenzo Ruiz: His Footprints in New York (2010), A Filipino Priest’s New York Diaries (2011), San Lorenzo Ruiz and Filipinos in Diaspora (2012) and San Lorenzo’s Impresario (2012). Father Erno enjoys Broadway, writing and traveling. He loves to produce cultural shows and concerts, having produced in 1993 a televised musical tribute to Cardinal Sin on his 25th episcopal jubilee at Paco Park, Manila, entitled Canticorum Jubilum.

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Copyright © 2016 by Father Erno Diaz.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-3170-2

                eBook          978-1-5144-3169-6

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Rev. date: 08/30/2016

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

CHAPTER ONE

The First Time I Met Father Sin

CHAPTER TWO

Father Jaime Sin: My Rector and Professor

CHAPTER THREE

Father Sin Appointed to Iloilo as Bishop

CHAPTER FOUR

Memories of Manila With Cardinal Sin and Villa San Miguel

CHAPTER FIVE

With Cardinal Sin at The Beatification of Blessed Lorenzo

CHAPTER SIX

Cardinal Sin Comes to New York

CHAPTER SEVEN

Homilies of Cardinal Sin on Lorenzo Ruiz

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Secret Meeting Between Cardinal Sin and President Reagan

CHAPTER NINE

Cardinal Sin Visits the Filipinos in New Jersey

CHAPTER TEN

With Cardinal Sin During San Lorenzo’s Canonization, October 1987

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Testimonial Dinner and Concert Tribute to Cardinal Sin

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cardinal Sin and My Appointment to Pwu Campus Ministry, 1991-1993

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cardinal Sin and My Books On San Lorenzo

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cardinal Sin and His San Lorenzo Legacy

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Reflecting on Cardinal Sin’s Passing

This humble book is dedica

ted to the loving memory of Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila on the occasion of his 10th death anniversary (June 21, 2015)



Message

His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin was a man of God who gave his all to serve God and God’s people, and who had many talents and great achievements. We can say that he was a many splendored-person. Much has been and will be written about him.

Shakespeare said, love is blind. This is true but not completely. We can also say that love is perceptive. The person who loves sees more good things in the beloved than others who do not love that person. Fr. Erno Diaz who loved him and knew him up close and personal, wrote this book on Cardinal Sin. This book is informative, inspiring, and interesting reading.

Fr. Erno knew Cardinal Sin well. On the other hand, the Cardinal knew Fr. Erno well also. The Cardinal was Fr. Erno’s professor and Rector in the seminary. When Cardinal Sin became Archbishop of Manila, Fr. Erno worked in the same Archdiocese for some time. I was the secretary of the Cardinal and later one of his Auxiliary Bishops. Once during lunch, we talked about Fr. Erno. Cardinal Sin said, Fr. Erno is very talented and he is full of initiatives.

+GABRIEL V. REYES

D.D. Bishop of Antipolo

FOREWORD

If Cardinal Sin were alive, he would be the first to laugh at the title of this book. After all, he himself made fun of his unusual name. Welcome to the ‘House of Sin’ is his most unforgettable quip. There is no doubt that this quip that is attributed to him, will survive generations, if not millenniums. Even as Cardinal Sin was the one and only, a unique human being there ever was, the most quintessential funny priest and bishop and cardinal rolled into one, his jokes about his own family name and other jokes will define him and his legacy in the minds of millions of people who came to know him.

The Sin I Knew (not what you think) is a humble spin-off from several books of the same genre already in the shelves of bookstores and libraries. Sin Stories, The Colorful Life of Cardinal Sin, and Cardinal Sin of Manila are among them. I venture to say that more books will be written by people who worked with Cardinal Sin, by those who listened to his homilies and talks, and by the adoring public including the future biographers of this extraordinary man of God. I sometimes think that my little book will be but a footnote to the lore of books, articles, and other literature on Cardinal Sin, present and future. Nevertheless, as a life long protege of the Cardinal, I want to share what I knew about him—my personal insights and the memorable incidents and situations that may in the distant future be significant historical readings for historians like his secret meeting with President Reagan in 1984 in New York that I kind of helped broker.

A Filipino doctor based in Manhattan said to me once, Father, it seems to me that you are Cardinal Sin’s man Friday in New York. I did not have the opportunity to ask him to explain why he thought of me as such. Was it his way of saying that he admired me for being close to the Cardinal? Or was there some kind of political color in his language in view of the fact that the Cardinal at that time was an outspoken critic of the Marcos regime and that I was the biggest ‘propagandist’ for the Cardinal? I tried to dismiss the thought as best I could. Time will tell that there was nothing to it.

Still, I must admit that I have been a great admirer of Cardinal Sin. Modesty aside, no one had the courage and the audacity to bring Cardinal Sin to New York but yours truly. As a matter of fact, I invited him on four different occasions to the New York metropolitan area. The first time was in 1984 on the occasion of the feast of Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz when he said Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Manhattan. The second time was in 1985, again on Blessed Lorenzo’s feast day celebration. The third time was in 1986 when he celebrated Mass for the Filipino community at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey at the invitation of Archbishop Peter Gerety of Newark. The fourth time was in 1988 for the testimonial dinner that the Philippine-American Chamber gave him at the Marriot Marquis grand ballroom in Times Square.

People told me that they were quite impressed that I could bring Cardinal Sin to New York. I simply told them that I happened to be a former student of Cardinal Sin and that he knew me very well. I told them that I was very fond of Cardinal Sin. I did not tell them that Cardinal Sin was quite fond of me too.

The Cardinal Jaime Sin who I knew was real. I was devoted to him. I will forever hold his memory in a very loving way. I will always cherish his legacy every which way I perceive it. It was never my intention to disparage him because of how I entitled this book. I hope that I have brought him ‘back to life’ in my mind and in my heart.

I wrote this humble book as my way of commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death on June 21, 2005. I miss him very much.

CHAPTER ONE

THE FIRST TIME I MET FATHER SIN

His visit to my Hometown of Maayon, Capiz in 1957

image001.jpg

A view of the Maayon church in Capiz

I knew Cardinal Sin for over 40 years starting from when I saw him for the first time in my hometown of Maayon, Capiz. As an itinerant missionary, he went to my Grade 6 classroom to talk to us about the minor seminary that was being built in the Diocese of Capiz and also to appeal to the people of the parish for their financial support of the seminary.

The memories of this visit to my classroom have remained so vivid and so powerful that after 48 years they still linger in my mind. I remember Father Jaime Sin as a lanky priest wearing a white sotana (robe). This was complemented by the white polo shirts and matching white pants of about 30 high school seminarians whom he brought along with him. It was the clean and white seminarians’ uniforms that actually attracted my attention the most. Although the young seminarians did not speak before my class, their mere presence mesmerized me so much that I imagined myself to be one of them someday. The attraction I felt to the seminarians’ white uniforms would stay strongly embedded in my heart, that even if I did not tell my father and mother about it, I knew that it was the seed of my desire to enter the seminary and to become a priest.

Sometimes I also like to look back to the years I served as an altar boy—from Grade 1 to Grade 6—as perhaps the time that fomented my desire to be a priest but I can’t ignore the fact that the attraction of the white-uniformed seminarians was absolutely irresistible to my young mind.

Playing priest was part of my growing years, a past time that I enjoyed in the company of my younger brother Aussie and my younger sister Vicky. At our house, the three of us would assemble a make-believe altar where a glass would serve as a chalice, two smaller glasses as the cruets for the wine and water, a platter serving as a paten for the host (our favorite bread was the circular favorita), a crucifix, and a book serving as a sacramentary and lectionary. With me in the center, Aussie and Vicky would kneel in front of the altar pretending to be my altar servers. I don’t remember now how we managed with the vestments like the chasuble, the alb, the stole but it could have been a combination of a white pajama that I would wear as alb and a green-colored blanket draped over the panama to look like a chasuble. This game excited the three of us very much especially me who play-acted as a ‘little priest.’

Going back to my Grade 6 classroom, Father Jaime Sin regaled us with a lot of stories. I liked how he spoke and laughed. His smile accented his talk before our group of twenty 12-year old boys. At the end of his talk, he told us about a school in Roxas City where the seminarians in white uniforms studied. Although not yet completed, the St. Pius X seminary had opened with the first two years of high school. The reason he came to our classroom was to invite boys graduating that year from the Maayon Elementary School to study in St. Pius X Seminary. Who would like to go to the seminary? he asked. I raised my hand.

Father Sin then asked me, Where is your father? I answered, "Papa is