Our Ministries

The Fr. Leoni Mission Foundation Inc. (FLMFI) is the legal entity of Jesuit Bukidnon IP Ministry.  We have journeyed with our Bukidnon IP brothers and sisters since we came to Sumilao 144 years ago, since we started our Cabanglasan mission 40 years ago, and since we established our foundation 24 years ago. 

Our founder, Fr. Ferrucio Leoni, SJ, an Italian Jesuit missionary, established the parishes of Jasaan in Misamis Oriental, San Agustin Parish in Valencia City, San Andres Parish in Maramag, Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Quezon and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Poblacion, Cabanglasan.  He was born on April 11, 1917, entered the Society of Jesus in September 7, 1933, ordained in July 16, 1947, and died in February 19, 1997.  

(Photo:  At the blessing of Balay hu Basbasunon, the new house for the Kapawa hu Paglaum leaders, graced with Patagostos, the traditional ritual performed by the IP elders, April 22, 2025, at Jesuit Retreat House)

Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APEC) is a Jesuit-run cultural and ecological school in partnership with the Pulangiyen of Bukidnon. It offers K-12 on its main campus in sitio Bendum, barangay Busdi, Malaybalay City.  APEC contextualizes its curriculum so that the learning process is grounded in the ancestral domain (gaup) and culture (kagena) and learning outcomes are geared towards sustainable life in the uplands. The curriculum includes communication skills (in Binukid, Filipino and English), mathematics, science, culture and livelihood. Bisaya culture and language have been incorporated as several migrant children also study in the school.    

The partnership with the Pulangiyen people began in 1992, when the community of sitio Bendum sought the help of Fr. Pedro Walpole, SJ to set up a school. With Fr. Pedro leading, the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) assisted the community in setting up APEC in 1992. Volunteers from the Year of Service (YOS) and Jesuit Volunteer (JVP) Programs organized literacy classes with help from community members and developed a full-fledged elementary curriculum. There are now four local village schools connected to the main campus. APC draws on local residents for both teachers and administrators. (Excerpts from Partners for Better Futures, a nonprofit organization that support APEC)  

School Manager: Jenny Lynn Lee 

Principal: Datu Nestor Menaling 

Director: Fr. Pedro Walpole, SJ  

Address: Sitio Bendum, Barangay Busdi, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon 8700

The Jesuit Retreat House in Malaybalay City (JRH-M) is an apostolic institution owned and managed by the Malaybalay Jesuit Retreat House, Inc., under the guidance of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, whose mission is to promote the work of evangelization entrusted by the Lord to the Catholic Church in the Philippines, specifically through the promotion of the Ignatian Spirituality and the Retreat Apostolate. It serves primarily as the formation center of the Bukidnon Mission District.

The JRH was established in 1982 as the Retreat Center for the Diocese of Malaybalay by the late Bishop Francisco Claver, S.J., D.D. Headed by then Fr. Honesto Pacaña, SJ (now Bishop Emeritus), this retreat center provided the spiritual nourishment for the faithful in the diocese. In 1992, then Bishop Gaudencio Rosales, D.D., the second bishop of Malaybalay (now Cardinal-Archbishop Emeritus of Manila and Primate-Emeritus of the Philippines) turned over this place to the Society of Jesus as one of its permanent ministries here in Bukidnon. Under the leadership of the late Fr. Joseph Raviolo, SJ, this house was renamed Jesuit Retreat House and has remained as such until the present. For over three decades, this house has witnessed countless life-decisions made, untold lives transformed and offered, and many relationships deepened or restored,