Priest who fought poverty, disease, even bishops, now ‘Venerable’
MANILA, Philippines — When the Vatican decree declaring “Father Al” a person of “heroic virtue” was read last Friday in Silang, Cavite, a few hundred meters from his burial site, there was a momentary silence among the thousands who had gathered in the Girlstown complex, and then rousing applause.
The late diocesan priest Aloysius Schwartz surmounted extraordinary difficulties to help poor and abandoned children, found two religious congregations, start Boystowns and Girlstowns in three countries.
Last January 22, three days after Pope Francis returned to Rome after his visit to the Philippines, the cause for the canonization of “Father Al,” who died in Manila 23 years ago, took a dramatic step forward. The pope confirmed the declaration naming him “Venerable” — the next step before beatification.
