One Act of Mercy at a Time
San Pedro Calungsod Parish through its Service Ministry, which is headed by Mrs. Jeana Dapar, started a new pastoral program of building a decent shelter for an indigent parishioner. Mr. Cresenciano Biol, our first beneficiary of the program, is a member of San Isidro Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC). He is living alone in his dilapidated house, the walls made out of rotting wood and a roof of tarpaulin and plastic bags over old and ruined nipa. From a distance one can observe that this house is a big pile of garbage. That was how I saw it when we went there to deliver his Christmas Gift last December.
Moved with mercy at this miserable sight, I thought of building a new house for him. And with God’s grace, we are now doing it. We started in July and are now completing his kitchen and having electricity installed.
The funding comes from the donations we received during last May’s Santacruzan. Our 23 Sagalas were able to raise 70,460 pesos. This is not much but we think we can build two houses worth 35,000 pesos each. Nevertheless, the cost of building Mang Cresenciano’s house came up to around 50,000 pesos including the in-kind donations and the bayanihan of our BEC Family Groups, who sent their members to help. This charitable work of our Santacruzan is inspired by St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. St. Helena has a special place in her heart for the poor and the afflicted.
The Parish Service Ministry is now on the process of searching for our next beneficiary. With God’s blessings, we are hoping that we will be able to continue this charitable cause considering our limited funds.
Most of our parishioners are poor, but they shared even the little they have. This is their Corporal Work of Mercy.
Fr. Joel L., sss
First Public Servants Pastoral Assembly Convened
In preparation for the Barangay election in May 2018, the parish gave a recollection to all our Barangay Election Candidates, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. The idea of collaboration between the barangay officials and the parish was injected during this recollection.
After the election, I called the candidates who are active in church for a meeting to confront the reality of vote buying that many of them admitted to have done. I accepted them back despite their electoral and moral violations. I believe this is what Jesus would also do. During this special meeting, the idea of organizing the collaboration between the parish and the six barangay councils was again brought up and expressly given support by our Catholic barangay officials. There were two meetings held thereafter, and it was finally decided that we will convene a Pastoral Assembly for all Public Servants.
Four out of six barangays responded to our call to attend our First Public Servants Pastoral Assembly on August 5, from 1:00 – 4:00 in the afternoon, at St. Eymard Conference Hall. They are barangays Anislagan (2 officials), Mabini (8 officials, majority of them are IFIs), San Isidro (4 officials) and Sta. Cruz (5 officials). Barangay officials of Bad-as and Magupange failed to join. Though Bad-as was absent, we already have an existing pastoral relationship.
During the assembly, there were a couple of short talks given explaining why the Catholic Church is engaging in the political life of the people and whenever human life and human dignity is affected by government policies. The Catholic Social Teaching was also given emphasis especially areas for “Creative Collaboration” (Creative Collaboration is used by Bp. Raul Dael, D.D., Bishop of Tandag). The following are the areas of our Creative Collaboration as outlined in the Catholic Social Teaching: Life and Dignity of the Human Person, Call to Family, Community, and Participation, Promotion of Peace and Disarmament, Rights and Responsibilities, Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers, Solidarity and Care for God’s Creation.
Three Barangay Chairpersons gave positive reactions and even offered some suggestions for possible joint programs. After some discussions, the body decided to organize a New Ministry and to send two representatives from each Barangay Council and their SK Chairman to become its members. Their initial meeting was set on August 10, Friday, at 5 in the afternoon.
With this initiative, the officials will not just be thinking of and serving their respective barangays but the common good of all the residents of the six barangays belonging to our parish.
Fr. Joel L., sss
Forming our Liturgical Ministers
After our Worship-Education-Service-Temporalities-Youth-Vocation (WESTYV) Pastoral Workshop held on July 7, 2018, our Liturgical Ministers are now given a liturgical formation every 4th Saturday of the month. This was started last July 28. There were more than 80 lay ministers who came for the Liturgical Conference. I gave an hour and a half talk on “Eucharist: The Body of Christ.” This provided them a basic knowledge of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and in His Mystical Body the Church, before going through the individual parts of the Mass, which will be given in series in the coming months.
After the talk and a short open forum, the Worship Ministry Coordinator, Mrs. Marlyn Tulang, facilitated a quick meeting with the whole assembly. This was followed by a one-hour meeting of each ministry to discuss provisions proposed for inclusion in the planned Parish Liturgical Manual that implements the Liturgical Documents of the Church, particularly the Manual for Administration of the Diocese of Surigao and some organizational provisions on their membership.
Fr. Joel L., sss
An Integral Formation
ur Rule of Life number 53 reminds us of what the Novitiate is all about, and I quote: “Novitiate is the time of breaking the former patterns of Life and to test one’s vocation under the guidance of a novice master and his formation team.” For me, this is the very essence of what formation is all about in our Congregation. And the very aim of our formation is “to lead the person to live the mystery of the Eucharist fully and to make known its meaning so that Christ’s reign may come and the glory of God be revealed to the world” (ROL #1).
Our formation is indeed a lifelong process for it involves the very core dimension of our being, of our being human and as a person. In a letter of Fr. Fiorenzo Salvi, SSS, then Superior General, he said that he and his council have come up with the formation program of our congregation as a guide, a tool in the formation of all the Sacramentinos in the inspiration of our Holy Founder St. Peter Julian Eymard. And I do believe that this guide, or manual, is the fruit of intense prayer and studies by the supreme authority, and that is why almost all of the past general chapters have approved and adapted this document as the First Formation Program of the SSS Congregation.
Indeed, our formation is a lifelong process because we, those aspiring to become future Sacramentinos and even those professed Sacramentinos, are still undergoing Formation simply because we are being formed INTEGRALLY. For me, this means a formation not just of one aspect of the person but the totality of his wholeness. The lifelong process is an Integral formation of the SELF–being human and being a person; an Integral formation of the Spiritual Self–being in communion with God through Jesus in the Holy Eucharist; an integral formation of the Intellect–which is very significant in the MISSION, VISION, and MINISTRY of our congregation especially in today’s world; and the Integral formation of Apostolate or Mission–to be an authentic witnesses and zealous Adorer of Jesus present in the everydayness of our Life and the Life of all who were entrusted to our care. We are reminded that one without the other makes our formation incomplete. Each of these aspects is interrelated because these are what make us true Sacramentinos deeply rooted and in love with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
This so-called lifelong formation prepares each one of us to be bread for others. That with this lifelong formation we are being formed, molded to the very core self to see Jesus and to meet him in the Eucharistic presence in one another within our communities and more so outside our communities. Our ROL #101 admonishes, “By accepting it as a gift from the Lord and by conforming our lives to it, as our profession commitment requires, we are strengthened in fidelity to our Eucharistic mission in the Church for the World.”