Concern for the Poor (Personal Files)
“I asked to be relieved of my work in the Ateneo in order to help a little the ghetto work with the poor of Manila. My reason for requesting this was the uneven distribution of spiritual attention to the hundreds of thousands of poor people in Manila. For 2000 students at the Ateneo de Manila, they had about 30 Jesuits and Scholastics and many laymen. Whereas a single parish in Tondo had only two or three priests for perhaps a hundred thousand parishioners.
“I felt that the best way to help the poor in Manila would be to work in a parish in a poor neighborhood.”
“Auspiciously, about that time, Archbishop O’Dougherty of Manila spontaneously asked me to start a new parish in Tondo and allocated 5000 square meters of church property in Tondo for this purpose. That was about one kilometer from the old Tondo parish church. When I broached the offer to my Jesuit Superior, he answered that it could not be accepted for lack of personnel.
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“And here [Sampaloc, Manila] it was that we experimented with Cooperatives, as an economic help for the poor. The Knights of Columbus Cooperative Committee had printed some pamphlets on the subject. The Government Cooperative Bureau liked these pamphlets so much that it asked permission to reprint them by the thousands.
“But this was only theory. Sampaloc was a good testing ground to practice in. As an example of a Producers’ Cooperative, we organized an embroidery Co-op for the women of the district. In the field of marketing, we started a Co-op store where the poor could purchase their food and household commodities.
“In all these activities we felt we were making a little progress. We couldn’t pretend that we had actually licked the busy Devil of these various districts. But definitely he was no longer in the driver’s seat. The boys and young men were more friendly to the priests. The anti-clerical lies that ‘The Church doesn’t love the poor’ were stopped. Attendance at Mass improved in the churches. In the playgrounds, honesty, and fair play and clean living were taught.”
Caring for the Youth (Columbia Magazine – 1948)
“We were asked to promote the Catholic Youth Organization by His Grace the Archbishop of Manila Michael J. O’Dougherty.
Back in 1938, by far the greatest need was for a youth program. Fifty thousand Catholic boys were being more and more exposed to the lawlessness and immorality typical of every busy port. Manila had no Catholic orphanages, no neighborhood clubs. The clergy, sadly undermanned, could do very little for these children, almost untouched as they were by any religious or spiritual influence.
Our plan was to form clubs in various key neighborhood, not unlike those of the C.Y.O. in many United States dioceses.
As a test ‘warm-up’, we started a few vacation basketball leagues. On the Ateneo Court in Ermita and in the densely populated districts of Tondo and Sampaloc, referees’ whistles shrilled all summer long, while the ‘dead end’ kids played and scrambled to their hearts’ content. It was a good beginning.
Then the Religious Instruction would begin. Special sports privileges would be given to those attending the classes or Open Forum. If possible, a reading room would be arranged, with books and pamphlets. Perhaps also an indoor games room. Swimming excursions were very popular. Our boxing and other sports gradually became known in the neighborhood, and usually some financial assistance was received from generous older people.
Attendance at Sunday Mass was, of course, insisted upon. Reception of the Sacraments, while strongly urged, was not compulsory, to prevent any possible sacrilegious participation in the holy rites.
Within a short time, clubs were started in six sections of the city – Intramuros, Trozo, Ermita, Ayala-Paco, Santa Ana and Sampaloc. Facilities usually were not fancy. In Ayala-Paco, however, we had first class bowling alleys and, with our rate of two games for a nickel, cheapest in the city, they attracted big crowds.
At Sampaloc we developed a fairly full-scale social center. Here the playground was thronged daily with boys from the nearby slums. In the ruins of the former “convento” (rectory) we conducted a small elementary school by day and an Adult Education class at night. We had vocational classes, too, where auto-mechanics was taught to ambitious youngsters.
Our work began to attract public attention. The Honorable Eriberto Misa, Director of Philippine Prisons, wrote to us:
“I have heard of the work of your organization and I congratulate you for what it is doing for the poor boys of the City….
“If there were more organizations like yours, we would never have the problem of overcrowding in our prisons.”
A Triumph on the Spirituality of the Poor (Personal Letters)
“Our Council may well feel that they have assisted substantially in bringing countless hundreds and thousand of young men a little closer to Christ. Without accomplishing anything very great in the eyes of the world we can sincerely say that we have given explicit religious instruction and spiritual counsels to very many—(spiritual works of mercy); and to a far larger number we have practiced corporal works of mercy in the form of wholesome supervised recreation under the banner of Christ. These under-privileged people whom we have helped surely must feel a little closer to Christ’s Church when they see that Christ’s followers are thus interested in their spiritual and material welfare.”
Bravery During Japanese Time (Personal Files)
“Then came April, 1942, the Fall of Bataan, and the unspeakable Death March to Camp O’Donnell. Spearheaded by our valiant even reckless K of C Brother Enrique Albert, later executed by the Japanese, we joined the underground to smuggle medicines and other supplies into the infamous prison camp. Braving the explicit prohibition of the Jap military, many other Brother Knights of Columbus cooperated in this glorious work.
“With Brother Albert as manager, we also started the K of C Rest House, just outside the stockade, for the broken hearted relatives of the victims, and for the broken bodied soldiers when they were finally released. A new Ford station wagon, ‘borrowed’ (without permission, of course) from our Japanese conquerors, was an indispensable part of these Manila-Capas-Camp O’Donnell activities.”
With the actual outbreak of the war, December 7, 1941, we had been forced to discontinue our boys’ work. But it was apparent that the youth problem now was greater than ever. His Diabolical Majesty was taking no vacation during the war. Indeed, war conditions helped him.
We decided to reopen our clubs, try to keep at least some of these boys busy with sports reading and catechism and study clubs. The Japanese military professed a policy, in those days, of allowing Catholic priests, as well as Protestant ministers, to continue spiritual activities. But our foes were very suspicious; at first they restricted gatherings and made special trouble for me since I was an American (enemy) priest.
“On one occasion a squad of Kempeitai (Jap Gestapo) raided our Ayala Club. I was reading my Breviary in a corner, when suddenly, startled out of my quiet, I looked up to face a furious Kempei threatening me with a drawn revolver. Together with the others, I was forced out on the basketball floor. There was much questioning, demanding of identification papers, rough jiujitsu in which Jap soldiers were so adept. I received an unusual amount of questioning. Why, they repeated, should a priest be found in such a place? For what good purpose was I in a sports club? It must be a subversive gathering. But we held our ground and finally were allowed to continue.
“I was imprisoned in Los Baños concentration Camp early in July, 1944. Bombing of Manila began in October of the same year. Until the Liberation of Manila the following February, starvation and terror reigned over the city. Untold thousands were slaughtered, or died in misery and destitution during those indescribable days.
“Amidst such bloodshed and chaos the Knights were scattered to the four winds, and ceased to exist as an organized body.”
Post-War Social Action (Personal Files)
“The Knights of Columbus set to work again to assist the Armed Forces with the traditional Columbian work of Soldier Service… Anyone not familiar with conditions in a war-ravaged city can hardly realize the difficulties of starting such an enterprise.
“We started with TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS CAPITAL and NOTHING ELSE. In fact, according to usual standards, we had less than nothing. Not only were we lacking office supplies, furniture and kitchen and dining room equipment, but the city had no telephones or transportation, no gas or electric service, and in most places no regular water supply.
“Yet thousands – hundreds of thousands – of American G.I.s’ were pouring into what was left of our city. We must do something!
“A chair and table here, a cup and saucer there, some rusty silverware and battered kitchen utensils salvaged from the ruins – and we opened. A few small money gifts were followed in a day or so by the happy sight of a young Filipino Knight hauling in half a sack of local coffee to cheer up the tired soldiers.
“This first locale, called the Espiritu Santo Club, was a bare parish hall on Rizal Avenue generously loaned by a zealous parish priest, Father Antonio Albrecht, S.V.D. Opening in March, 1945 it was desperately lacking in equipment and facilities. But it antedated even the first Red Cross canteen in Manila. While the fighting was fiercest in the nearby- Ipo-Antipolo Mountains, this local Knights of Columbus club was about the only recreation place where the battle-worn soldiers could eat, sleep, rest or play – gratis and for nothing. The club functioned on a 24-hour basis, and, in its small way, was a bright gem in the K of C crown during those hectic days.
“But greater assistance began to arrive. From the Knights of Columbus Headquarters in new Haven and from the Bishops’ Relief Fund in Washington, generous gifts were received. A local friend gave a considerable sum of money. Another contributed superb building space in the best location in the city.
“In this latter place we now organized a larger club, sponsored jointly by the N.C.C.S., the Knights of Columbus, and local friends. It proved a tremendous success; in its busiest month, from August to October, 1945, about 10,000 soldiers and sailors made use of its conveniences daily.”
(Note: In the Pacific Stars and Stripes of August 28, 1969, it was recorded: “The USO has honored Fr. George J. Willmann, S.J. with the organization’s 25th Anniversary Award, for his dedicated service to the American servicemen for over two decades.”)
Achievement during Recovery Period (Personal Reports)
“We received 35,000 dollars to pay for the Catholic College education of the orphaned children of Filipino Knights of Columbus, who died during the war, as members of the USAFFE. These include the seven children of Manuel Colayco, nine children of Benito Soliven, and four children of Enrique Albert.
“These scholarships include board, lodging, tuition, and most incidentals, at any college teaching Catholic Philosophy, either in the Philippines, in the United States, or elsewhere. Carlos Colayco obtained such a grant for his studies at San Jose Seminary, for four years. If the child is not a boarding student, his mother receives the equivalent, about 30 pesos a week for forty weeks.
“We have organized the Columbian Farmers Aid Association, duly incorporated under the laws of the Philippines. Financial help for this association, during recent years, has been received from the Asia Foundation. The amount is 40,000 pesos, with the condition – duly fulfilled – that this sum be matched by a similar contribution from the Knights in the Philippines.
“Through this organization, the Filipino Knights are urged to engage in Christian Social Reconstruction in their own regions. Our Councils are doing this, with works of social amelioration, or works of charity.
“In the defensive work against Communism we have organized ten conferences inBaguio, three day seminar inCebu, and lectures throughout the nation. We have written, edited and distributed 234,000 pamphlets.
“Food from Catholic Relief Services is now being given to 850 families in Intramuros, and to 600 families in Tondo.
“The Knights of Columbus are working in close cooperation with the U.S.O. – the United Service Organization. I have been the Vice-Chairman of the U.S.O for the last few years. And since the Chairman is now on leave in the United States, I am acting as the National Chairman.
“Mayor Lacson has appointed me as Chairman of the Community Service Committee of the Manila Youth Welfare Council. We have an office on the third floor of the City Hall, with – presently – three staff members.
“I have been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Manila Junior Police.
“Medicines, worth about 30,000 pesos, are obtained each year, and distributed to twenty free clinics. Our Intramuros clinic treats 220 patients ever day.
“I am the Adviser of APEPCOM – the Association of the Philippine Editors and Publishers of Comic Books. This group publishes 1,500,000 comic books a month. I took this post at the request of the Bishops. We have drawn up a code, which is now being followed.
“For the last six years I have been the Vice President of the Free Medical Clinic – otherwise known as the Catholic Patronatos. About three months ago, the founder and President, Doctor Augusto J.D. Cortes, was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage, which left him paralyzed. He requested me to accept the Presidency of the Free Medical Clinics. Four groups of Sisters work with great dedication in these clinics. Over the last year, together with the Knights of Columbus, they have given medical relief to a total of 583,133 patients, with a total value of 64,371.09 pesos.
