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III. Accommodations – overnights out, breaks or leaving

A. Before Taking Your Well-Deserved Break…

1. For those going on pastoral work, conferences or visits, and plan to sleep outside the Collegio for one or more nights (even during class days), kindly email (not sms or on paper) the Rector your trip schedules, along with the address, email and contact numbers of the persons or institutions you will be staying with.

  • This will allow the Rector to reach you in an emergency, in case you are unable to reply to your own celfones or social messaging.
  • If you are not yet sure of your final schedules and/or destinations, please indicate them in your email as tentative, and update the Rector when you have the definitive data.

2. In certain summers, the Administration may allow you to keep your things in your room cabinet, both in its lower and upper parts. Otherwise, if the Administration expects many guests coming, you will be informed of the following:

  • You may leave your “baule” (or a presentable box) in your room if you have one, but please push it to a side to make your room as hospitable as possible.
  • You may cover your bookshelves, or rotate them so they face the walls, to help keep the dust out, and to lessen the chances of guests tinkering with your books or mixing their things with yours.
  • Please free your desktops and toilets completely, keep your floor area free as much as possible, and store your other things inside your cabinets.
  • The PCF Administration reserves the right to ask the student priests to completely vacate the main (lower) part of the cabinets in future summers, in case the rooms would be needed for guests staying during longer periods. In that case, all things should be kept in the upper cabinet, “baules” or other presentable boxes in your room, or brought to a common storage area to be indicated by the Economus.

3. Kindly settle your accounts for the school year, if you haven’t done so yet – or at least inform our Economus how you plan to do so.

4. Please return borrowed items such as chausables, stoles, albs, vessels, Order of the Mass, Mass kits, song books, etc. from the Crypt or Chapels, and books taken from the library.

5. Kindly clarify all your enrollment procedures around May or June, and definitely before you leave for your summer break. Some universities require online enrollment, or a personal appearance, etc. Kindly inform the Rector if he needs to do some special intervention (e.g., signature and seal, online confirmations, etc.). Note that most universities close during the months of July, August and the first half of September, so you might not be able to communicate with them then.

6. Make sure you get oriented regarding the entry and exit procedures of the country you are visiting: visa, Permesso di Soggiorno renewal status, luggage, questions at the immigration counter, etc. (if necessary, search for “expired soggiorno” in our Collegio website).

7. Even before travelling, ask the Parish priest where you will be staying to orient you regarding their policies, including those regarding “Child Safe Environment”, the non-observance of which could have criminal consequences (fines and imprisonment). Even though certain practices or actions might be acceptable in our own cultures, they might be criminal offenses in other countries – patting or hugging minors or adults; being the only adult with one or more minors in the Sacristy, room, car or picture; taking pictures of persons without their consent, etc.

8. For those with Filipino communities in Rome, Italy or Europe, who are asking for priests during the summer break, please email the Rector (not sms or on paper) as soon as possible the following information: community name, tentative schedules, address, community leader and celfone number. We will try our best to field the newcomers to your communities.

9. Collegios are especially prone to break-ins by outsiders during summer, since thieves know that residents are mostly out. Do not leave any valuables behind, such as documents, money, computers or disks containing your thesis, etc. The Collegio will not be responsible for any loss.

10. During breaks, you may bring along your room keys with you, or leave them with the Economus (not in your pigeonhole).

B. Staying at the Collegio during summer:

1. As a privilege, Collegio residents may spend six nights for free at the Collegio during the months of July, August and September (donations are most welcome). In such cases, they will be assigned their own rooms, or if it is occupied by a guest, then another room.

2. Collegio residents may stay at the Collegio for free from September 25 to 30, to prepare for the first semester and the annual retreat.

3. Outside those days with free stay, we ask for a donation of €40 per night, with free meals. These are special rates for Collegio Residents. Please inform both the Economus and the Rector by email (for easier reference, and not by sms, written note or viva voce) at least some days before you come on those months.

4. Please inform the Rector by email at least five days before you come on those months.

5. For those who wish to stay for longer periods, the rates, including meals, are:

  • month of July: €700 for Filipinos and €800 for non-Filipinos
  • month of August: €700 for Filipinos and €800 for non-Filipinos
  • month of September: €800 for Filipinos and €900 for non-Filipinos
  • for one or two weeks’ stay, just divide the above rates into four or two, respectively.

6. Those staying July and August will be assigned household chores, since the personnel will be taking their vacations then; hence the lower monthly rates. There will be no laundry service, and dishwashing (including the serving dishes and utensils) and cleaning of premises will be done by the priests. All are also requested to observe the community schedules for meals and prayers, and interact with and assist the newcomers in any way possible – speaking to them in Italian so they can more quickly learn the language.

7. Please refrain from using short pants, pajamas, bathrobes, sleeveless shirts, as well as clothes for sports (except during sports period), or going shirtless, when in the ground floor and basement areas at all times, even at night (as well as in the upper floor corridors when there are guests). While the Collegio is our home where we should feel comfortable, it is at the same time a Pontifical institution, a showcase of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and semi-public. Once outside the privacy of our own rooms, we need to consider the different sensitivities of priests, sisters, staff and guests alike – e.g., for some, shorts and sleeveless in public might be acceptable, but for others not.

8. During summer, the Administrators may get the Collegio electric fans from your rooms and lend them to the new comers. To keep rooms less hot during summer:

  • when it is cool outside (early morning or evenings): open the windows to let cool air enter and cool the walls
  • when it is hot outside: close the windows and lower your blinds (especially when sunlight hits your window) to keep hot air out

9. The PCF Administrators highly discourage priests from staying during extended periods in private homes or apartments together with families who are not one’s close relatives. While this would represent some savings for the priest, and the families say they are most willing to host priests, it would still mean some prolonged burden for the host family.

  • Not to be discarded too are possible misunderstandings and misconceptions of all sorts, with consequences that could go beyond control, on the part of others, especially when there are minors or young ladies in the home. This is especially so now, that the sensitivity of the public, whether positive or negative, regarding priests is on the rise.
  • Staying instead in a parish or convent would help assure one of an ambiance more suitable for daily Mass, prayer, studies, pastoral work and other demands of the Priestly ministry.
  • For those wishing to stay at PCF during summer, you may also make use of friendsofthecollegio.org/scholarships to augment your funds.

C. Annual Retreat

1. The Collegio Annual Retreat is typically from Thursday (leave Collegio after breakfast) to Sunday (leave retreat house after breakfast) of the week before classes start in October. It is part of our Collegio Calendar, hence kindly plan your summer break accordingly.

2. “Absence from the Annual Retreat should be for truly grave reasons” (Ordinances I. 3). If you cannot complete the whole duration of the retreat, kindly email a formal letter to the PCF Rector and Spiritual Director explaining your situation. For certain cases, the Rector may ask you to secure a letter from your Bishop allowing you to be absent.

3. Please be back at the latest on the Monday before start of classes (for example, by September 25 Monday if classes start on an October 2 Monday). This will allow you to finish your enrollment procedures on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the retreat, and to get over jet lag to maximize your retreat days.

4. For those who have Sunday Masses in Filipino Communities, please note the estimated time of arrival in Rome coming from the retreat, to determine whether you could still say the Sunday Mass in the Community, or have to look for a substitute as in the summer months.

5. Pontifical Universities have synchronized their start of classes every year, on the first Monday after October 1. Those who have classes on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday of the retreat are normally allowed by the universities to miss those sessions – which is understandable, given the priority of spirituality in the life and ministry of Priests, the orientation and review of policies and community life integrated in the Collegio retreat, and given that it is always possible to learn the introductory and initial lessons missed in school.

D. For those Ending their Stay at the Collegio

1. For those leaving definitively in June, your rooms could be assigned to newcomers towards the end of June. If you are still around, and especially if you have already packed or shipped your things, you may opt to volunteer to transfer to another room, to give way to the newcomers so they can settle down in their new life, without having to be assigned to a temporary room.

2. For those who need to stay at the Collegio during the month of October (and/or a bit earlier or later), but will no longer enroll for first semester studies, you can be assigned a room different from the one you have been using. This is to give priority to those who will be staying here the whole year or semester.

  • In case you need to leave some things behind for use on October, kindly pack and label them, and put them all in an area to be designated by the Economus towards June. Please do not leave anything behind in your current room, including the upper cabinets, to give way to the newcomers. Also do not leave anything in the corridors or other common spaces unless indicated by the Economus.
  • In case of special events around October (Canonization, etc.), those not enrolling this coming first semester might have to share rooms with others, to give way to the Bishops and perhaps their close associates.

3. We suggest that you ship your things back home as early as possible. This way you will have them there before you arrive. You may leave recyclable clothes at the laundry, or donate unneeded items to other priests or the Collegio. In particular, please do not leave any baule or box anywhere in the Collegio (basement, library, garage, rooms, etc.). Any item left in the room without labels (even if you have verbally given instructions to someone) will be deemed for disposal.

4. Please coordinate with the Rector when you can have your final Colloquium.

5. KINDLY LEAVE YOUR KEYS WITH OUR ECONOMUS OR AT THE PORTER WHEN YOU LEAVE.