Cardinal Sanchez Presides Fiesta 2011 High Mass

This year’s fiesta celebrations marked another milestone for the parish. Ever since the parish was formally consecrated by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin in 1987, this was the first time that another cardinal, His Eminence Jose T. Cardinal Sanchez, officiated Holy Mass, but more specifically the fiesta High Mass last September 25, 2011.

Extensive preparations were made to make the cardinal’s visit pleasant due to his advanced age. He was given a dignitary’s welcome, complete with the Knights of Columbus providing him with Honor Guards.

A short caracol procession by some of the parish youth ushered the entrance of the statue of San Lorenzo Ruiz borne on the shoulders of some KoC. This was followed by the mass.

In his homily, the good cardinal, who just recently retired as Prefect of the Clergy in Rome, espoused the virtues of brotherhood in the Lord when he said “If God is our Father, then we are all brothers and sisters...and we should take care of one another.”

After the mass, the cardinal was treated to some local cuisine from his native Bicol province. Fr. Luke and the PPC officers hosted the lunch.

Kontra-GaPi SLRP’s Parish Night Was Different This Year

The Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino or Kontra-GaPi, the resident ethnic music and dance ensemble of the College of Arts and Letters of the University of the Philippines in Diliman was a special guest at the SLRP’s Parish Night. Using ethnic instruments of drums, gongs and xylophones, they wowed the audience with music it rarely heard, music that someone said he associated with nature. Originally set to play two pieces of music, the band ended up playing four numbers to satisfy the audience’s request for more. Their last number delighted the audience even more when the female members danced to the beat of the instruments played by their fellow members.

The presence of the Kontra-GaPi during the Parish Night was made possible through Anjo Santiago, who is one of its members and who also happens to be the musical director of the SLRP Gospel Choir.

PYM Holds Amazing Race 2011

What could dark clouds, an overcast sky and a bunch of determined and charged youngsters come to? You guessed it— a perfect day for an amazing race of speed, accuracy, spirituality, inteliggence, strong stomachs and team work.

Last September 24, four teams of 5 members each, participated in the race and tried to outdo each other. Scattered all over the five areas of the parish were six different challenges that each team had to go through on their way to the finish line. The race was not solely based on the fastest team but on how well they performed the tasks at each of the control points. There were challenges that tested their speed, their intelligence, their stomachs, their knowledge of the Catholic faith and their fears.

The overall winner was the team of Abigail Panajon, Chrissel Tamayo, Danielle Beldeniza and Rogel Quintero. They won two large boxes of pizza and the Grand Prize trophy for their efforts.

Spearheaded by the Parish Youth Ministry, the amazing race ended with everyone taking home some prizes, not to mention the fun and camaraderie. This fun race could not have been successful without the full support of all those who donated the prizes and helped in the procurement and preparation of the various game paraphernalia.

Despite the rainy weather, the bright and warm atmosphere among the teams and the organization could not dampen the enthusiasm of the youngsters from enjoying the day.

SLRP Kids Join Family Day Games

Saturday, September 24, was a day of fun and games for the younger children in the parish. The drizzle did not stop them from enjoying a few hours of games. There were traditional Pinoy games lined up for them, including Pukpok-Palayok and Pabitin. This was also organized by the PYM. Lots of candies and toys were there for the taking. Even the not-so-young joined in with their own Pukpok-Palayok and Pabitins. No one went home empty-handed.

There was also a Karaoke singing contest for those who dared to belt out their favorite songs. For those that won, there were prizes to reward their efforts. In the end, was anyone crowned the Karaoke King or Queen? Well…...

PYM Presents JOMEI—A Drama Play

Another play was mounted by the Parish Youth Ministry for this year’s feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Entitled “Jomei at ang Lalaki sa Likod ng Liwanag”, the play presented the life and conversion of Jomei, the chief of the Samurai assigned to guard the martyrs—the Dominican friars together with San Lorenzo Ruiz.

Originally researched by Ate Lina Feliciano, the play lifts from her work the salient events in the life of Jomei directly surrounding his conversion after his encounter with San Lorenzo Ruiz.

At the heart of the play was the fortuitous crossing of paths between Jomei and the humble escribano from Binondo. As head of the Samurai guards, Jomei was given the big responsibility of converting the “heathens” to Shinto, the religion of Japan. But by the grace of God, Lorenzo’s steadfast faith had a troubling and lasting impact on his oppressor that eventually led to his conversion. Towards the end of his life, Jomei could be seen having frequent conversations with an unseen visitor, the man he says “is behind the light”. Their conversations were chronicled by Jomei’s granddaughter who turned these over to the proper religious authorities. These provided the documentary evidence of San Lorenzo’s “first miracle”. At the last hour of his life, Jomei called his granddaughter, asked her to pour water over his forehead symbolic of the rights of Christian baptism.

The PYM every effort to come up with a quality presentation in this their first “big budget” production. One saw from the sets, the costumes, the make-up, the sounds and the lighting, the creative efforts of the PYM to come up with a play they could really be proud of and which the audience appreciated. The actors and actresses too gave their best , particularly those who played the role of the samurai and tortured martyrs. The audience seemed to feel the punches, the kicks, the moans and groans as if they were there.

Through these weeks of preparation, from conceptualization to the night of their performance, the PYM showed how far they have grown as a ministry.

SLRP Holds Successful Munting Lakan at Lakambini ng Sanlo

In a project that was started in late June 2011, Fr. Luke and the PPC began the fund-raising drive to rehabilitate the storage room at the back of the church. As part of the this year’s parish fiesta celebration, the Munting Lakan at Lakambini project was launched to rally the different ministries and organizations to support this communitarian effort to raise funds for the construction of safe and secure storage facility for the church. As an offshoot of this project, a larger portion of the area will house a meeting room which is badly needed by the growing parish.

And so on Parish Night, the main highlight of the program was the announcement by Fr. Luke of the total funds raised. The project generated over P177,000.00 in donations with the AP, MBG and Music Ministry, as a team, generating the largest share. As a result, their muses, Lakan Karl Sebastian Tan Ng Gui and Lakambini Ladan Andales, were crowned Munting Lakan at Lakambini ng Sanlo.

Fr. Luke and actress and MBG member Ms. Nova Villa awarded the sash and crowns. The project exceeded its target of raising P100,000 through the bayanihan efforts of all ministries and organizations as well as the parents and guardians of the munting lakans and lakambinis and the rest of SLRP.

While it was a friendly competition among the different teams (made up of groups of ministries and organization), it was clear that the winner was the parish of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Very soon it shall boast a new and secured storage facility with a spacious meeting room to ease the congestion of the current parish hall which can no longer accommodate all the meetings and functions of its ministries and organizations. This is San Lorenzo Ruiz’ precious gift to his parishioners on the occasion of his feast.

SLRP Launches Tianggehan 2011

After a two-year lull, the Tianggehan sa Sanlo was back. This time the tianggehan lasted four weekends, one weekend more than previous offerings. A total of 15 vendors participated in this year's edition, selling various goods from new and used clothing to bling-blings, ornamental accessories, health food, toys, religious items and cooked food.

The tianggehan, together with all stalls and vendors, were blessed by Fr. Luke as it was officially opened last September 11.

Parish Cleaning Day 2011

The fiesta anniversary celebrations started with the Parish Cleaning Day on September 10, a Saturday.

This traditional yearly activity marks the parish’s preparation for its founding anniversary. This year, the 24th anniversary was celebrated last September 25 and as in the past, the different ministries and organizations contributed their time in tidying up the church and its immediate surroundings.

SLRP Pastoral Leaders Attend Servant Leadership Talk

Last September 9, invited leaders from the parishes of San Isidro Labrador Vicariate gathered at Our Lady of Consolation parish for a talk by Monsignor Romy Ranada on a very relevant topic Servant Leadership. The whole talk centered on following the example of Jesus as found in the Bible passage from John 13:1-17.

According to Msgr. Ranada, Jesus espoused a suffering type of leadership as he gave himself as an example for all at the washing of the feet when He said… “what I have done to you...so you too should do to each other”. This is the kind of leadership He wants us to follow... to humble ourselves as parish leaders and followers for no servant is greater than his master nor the messenger greater than the sender of the message. We are all messengers of Christ's message and servants of the Lord.

He further gave the congregation some guidelines as parish leaders:

1. Read the Bible. Get to know Jesus. Understand the Gospels.

2. Pray..pray..pray. The more responsibilities one has, the more he needs to pray.

3. Be humble in everything you do, especially as leaders. Do not be self-conscious. Have the right EGO (Exalting God Only rather than Edging God Out).

4. Be generous. Give of your time, talent and treasure.

He ended his talk with the community singing of The Servant Song.