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Director's Desk
Dear Friends,
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus!
Warm greetings from the HOPE Foundation, Inc. In recent years, we have all witnessed—often painfully—the growing impact of online gaming, gambling, and excessive screen use on our children, youth, families, and even pastoral workers. What often begins as recreation or convenience slowly becomes a silent wound: fracturing relationships, weakening faith, affecting mental health, and robbing many of freedom, hope, and purpose.
In response to this urgent pastoral reality, the HOPE Foundation, Inc., in collaboration with Church partners and allied institutions, is launching a comprehensive training and formation program entitled:
DIGITAL SHEPHERDING
A Pastoral Response of the Church to Digital Addiction
As Executive Director of the HOPE Foundation, I respectfully and joyfully extend this invitation to Bishops, Priests, Catechists, Youth Leaders, Teachers, Parents, and Leaders of Mandated Organizations and Renewal Movements to participate in this formation program.
DIGITAL SHEPHERDING is designed to equip the Church with a clear, compassionate, and coordinated response to digital addiction. Rooted in Catholic faith and anthropology, enriched by psychology and addiction science, and animated by the Gospel image of Christ the Good Shepherd, this program seeks to form pastoral agents who can truly see, accompany, and heal those wounded in the digital age.
The formation will be conducted over three progressive weekends, focusing on:
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Understanding digital addictions and the Church’s pastoral mission
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Interventions for mild to moderate cases through accompaniment and community-based programs
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Proper response to severe cases through referral systems, intensive care, and reintegration
Participants will be trained in the use of pastoral tools such as the Parish Youth Assessment Tool (PYAT) and Annual Digital Wellness Surveys, and will be guided in building parish-, school-, and diocese-based Digital Shepherding teams.
More than a training, DIGITAL SHEPHERDING is an invitation to pastoral conversion—to become a Church that does not merely react to crises, but one that walks with the wounded, protects the vulnerable, and restores hope where addiction has taken root.
We humbly invite your participation and support, trusting that together we can help the Church become ever more a field hospital in the digital wilderness, faithful to her mission as mother, teacher, and shepherd of souls.
Further details regarding schedule, venue, and registration will be communicated through official channels. Should you wish to organize this formation within your diocese, parish, school, or organization, the HOPE Foundation stands ready to collaborate and assist.
Thank you for your continued dedication to the pastoral care of God’s people. May the Good Shepherd guide us as we seek to lead His flock toward freedom, healing, and fullness of life.
With prayerful hope and gratitude,
Rev. Fr. Richard Lagos, OP, MA, EMAS
Executive Director
HOPE Foundation, Inc.
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
About the Director
Rev. Fr. Richard P. Lagos, OP, MA, EMAS is a Catholic priest, pastoral leader, and addiction professional whose ministry bridges faith, formation, and social transformation. He currently serves as Parish Priest and Rector of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception Parish in Southcentral Poblacion, Nampicuan, Nueva Ecija, where he shepherds both the spiritual life of the parish and the broader mission of evangelization rooted in mercy, hope, and service.
He is the Founder and President of Servus Amoris Foundation Inc., a faith-based organization dedicated to integral human formation, servant leadership, and values-based social engagement. He is likewise the Co-Founder and Executive Director of HOPE Foundation Inc., an institution committed to holistic recovery, addiction prevention, psychosocial rehabilitation, and community-based interventions grounded in the spirituality of hope. Through these initiatives, Fr. Lagos has been instrumental in developing recovery centers, formation programs, and livelihood pathways that integrate science, spirituality, and social responsibility.
Academically, Fr. Lagos brings together philosophy, theology, canon law, pastoral studies, and addiction science. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in Psychology from the University of La Salette, Silang, Cavite, where his research explored Pilosopiya ng "Kabukasang-Palad at Kahandaang Maglingkod sa Ugnayang Diwa ni Karol Wojtyla at Gabriel Marcel", reflecting his early engagement with personalist and existential thought. He completed his Master’s degree in Sacred Theology (Cum Laude) at the San Carlos Graduate School of Theology, specializing in Canonico-Historico-Liturgico-Pastoral Studies, with a research focus on "The Canonical Status of Basic Ecclesial Communities".
Recognizing the urgent pastoral challenge of addiction, Fr. Lagos pursued an Executive Master’s in Addictions Science (EMAS) at Asia Metropolitan University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he graduated as Valedictorian. His graduate research, "The Essence of Faith in Recovery Apropos the Science of Hope", articulates a unique synthesis of faith, neuroscience, psychology, and recovery science—an integration that now informs his national and international work in addiction prevention, treatment, and aftercare.
His professional formation includes Clinical Pastoral Education at Makati Medical Center and numerous international certifications in addiction recovery, motivational interviewing, prevention science, counseling theories, ethics, relapse management, and drug demand reduction obtained in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. These credentials ground his pastoral ministry in evidence-based practice while remaining deeply rooted in Catholic anthropology and spirituality.
Throughout his priestly ministry, Fr. Lagos has held key diocesan leadership roles, including Vice Chancellor, Director of Catechesis and Religious Education, Director of Social Communications, Director of Youth, Director of Indigenous Peoples, and Director of Clergy Ongoing Formation. He is presently Priest-in-Charge of the Diocesan Office for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and Director of the Diocesan Commission on Clergy Ongoing Formation, contributing to priestly renewal, synodality, and ongoing formation at the diocesan level. He also served as Co-Founder and National Executive Director of YOUCAT Philippines and remains deeply engaged in youth catechesis and evangelization.
Internationally, Fr. Lagos has participated in and contributed to major ecclesial gatherings, including World Youth Days in Madrid (2011) and Krakow (2016), international formation workshops in Europe, Asia, and the Vatican, and global conferences on priestly formation and recovery ministry. He has served as a resource speaker, retreat master, and keynote lecturer in Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, addressing themes such as youth catechesis, servant leadership, new evangelization, addiction recovery, faith formation, and cultural transformation.
In the digital sphere, Fr. Lagos continues his mission of evangelization through media. He produces “Word of the Day,” a daily Gospel reflection on Facebook, “Gospel in a Nutshell” on YouTube, and faith-based content on TikTok, reaching a broad audience with reflections that are pastoral, accessible, and deeply rooted in Scripture and lived experience.
At the heart of his vocation is a clear vision: to form persons, heal communities, and build cultures of hope—where faith encounters life, mercy meets brokenness, and love becomes service.
