Father Angel Dy endures three hurricanes, tornado, while on vacation

Father Angel Dy, pastor at Mead, Fowler and Plains, is the other Filipino priest; while three priests from the Philippines working in our diocese hail from the Diocese of Boac, he is from the Sorsogon diocese, a couple of gulfs and two islands east of Boac.

Home (being where the heart is), was Manila this trip, the location of many of Father Dy’s siblings, but far from his home diocese of Sorsogon. With four days round-trip travel time and two days jet lag, even a three-week vacation didn’t allow time for all the travel he would have liked.

And the weather certainly didn’t allow for travel.

"The weather was nasty," he said. "There were three hurricanes while I was there, and one volcanic eruption. At least 28 people died."

Father Dy was about 200 miles away from the Mayon Volcano – the Philippines’ most active volcano — when it began to spew ash atop his home region of Bikol. He said that nearly 10,000 people were forced to leave their homes.

Meanwhile, he was close enough to the hurricane to get lashed with heavy winds and rain.

"The hurricanes are extensive," he said. "Whether you are directly hit or not, the weather is difficult. I just stayed where I was, with my family in Manila.

"It was kind of frightening, but I’m used to it. I grew up in a place where an average of 20 hurricanes hit every year. So, I’m not really afraid too much. Nonetheless, they are destructive."

Upon his return to Kansas in late July, he said the volcano was still pouring ash. Wind direction kept it from hitting Manila while he was there.

Father Dy has three brothers and two sisters; one sister died, as have his parents. In the coming year, he will be edging on a full decade spent in the Dodge City diocese.

After that?

"So far we have no immediate plan on when I would be leaving," he said. "In a year or two I will have completed nine to 10 years. That would be one-fourth of my priesthood invested here."

On Aug. 29, Father Dy will play host to the Most Rev. Arturo Bastes, Bishop of Sorsogon, who will visit Kansas as part of an appeal trip aimed at the construction of a clergy retirement home. While in the United States, the bishop will visit with several priests from Sorsogon working throughout the country. Bishop Bastes will also spend some time visiting with Bishop Ronald Gilmore.

The Diocese of Sorsogon is exactly 42 days younger than the Diocese of Dodge City, having been named a diocese on June 29, 1951. The Sorsogon diocese, which covers the province of Sorsogon (provinces are like states), has a population of 704,363, of which 87 percent are Catholic.