Changing of the Guard

After the Chrism Mass held at the Good Shepherd Cathedral in Novaliches, the new parish appointments were given by Bishop Tobias to his priests as part of the general reshuffle of the clergy which will officially take effect on June 3 and 4, 2013.

In the last agape with his parish workers held after the Chrism mass last Holy Thursday, Fr. Luke announced that Rev. Fr. JB Abellana, current parish priest of Parish of the Resurrection  in Bagbag, Novaliches, will take over as SLRP parish priest.  Fr. Luke, on the other hand, will move to the Parish of St. Agnes in Camarin in Caloocan.

St. Martha’s Workstation Blessed

What used to be the old and dirty “bodega”,  the  area at the back of the church , has now been transformed into a clean and tidy storage area  for  the safekeeping of church paraphernalia used in liturgical events and activities. This room was left unfinished during the construction of the Nishizaka Hall which was used for various church activities.  Designed and renovated through the personal efforts of Kuya Oca Calma, and managed by Ate Shirley Ruiz, the renovation was completed last February 2013.

Named after Martha of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Mary, who was “cumbered by so many things”, St. Martha’s workstation was blessed by Fr. Luke, together with some parishioners, after the 6:30PM mass last March 13.

 

Multi-purpose Hall Repairs Begin

In the early morning of March 6, 2013, Fr. Luke, together with the members of the Construction Committee, the religious community and other  massgoers, trooped to the multi-purpose hall for the blessing  before the renovation work officially began.

After a short prayer and the reading of the Gospel, Fr. Luke went around the hall blessing all the spots where the main structural posts would be erected. The plans for the renovation works will replace the current roof of the multi-purpose hall with a new one,  provide additional parking spaces by recessing by 3 meters the  side adjacent to the road, and erect a mezzanine floor which , in the future, would be able to provide additional meeting rooms for the growing needs of the parish. 

The renovation works, with the perspectival design and visualization provided by Arch. Mike Padre,   will be undertaken by Bro. Laya Victoria and is targeted to be completed by May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the worker.

Circles of Discernment

 

What is a Circle of Discernment? This was the main agenda in the meeting held last March 6 meeting of San Isidro Labrador Vicariate in OLAP.  Representatives from the different parishes attended this introductory briefing which was discussed to the body by  Fr. Tony Labiao, the diocesan vicar for pastoral concerns. In the one hour talk, he explained the current thrust of the church with regards to the coming May 2013 elections.

Simply put, the circle of discernment is a group of 7-10 individuals who go through the available information about the candidates for election and, with the help of prayer and spirit-filled discussion, choose among themselves the candidates they will support. These 7-10 individuals then form new circles which quickly expands the collective wisdom of the people to choose the candidates they feel will work for the common good. Similar groups put together make up the Circles of Discernment.

The latter part of the talk involved an exercise where all representatives from each parish grouped themselves together and, collectively, discerned the positive and negative traits of “chosen” candidates. Prior to the groupings, the body decided on the three candidates for councilor in QC’s District 6 (where all the parishes belong) who will be subjected to the “discernment” process based on the PPCRV’s LASER (Lifestyle, Action, Supporters, Election Conduct and Reputation) test which was introduced in the 2010 elections.

As the session ended, and the points tallied, it was revealed that there were more questions than factual data to come up with an objective discernment. No matter what, the body decided that this process will be helpful to parishes in choosing candidates who will work for the common good...provided though that accurate data are available for true discernment.