mr alfred velasco, new servicecom chair

The Parish Commission on Service was finally organized at the meeting earlier this evening at the parish rectory conference room. Mr Alfred Velasco was elected chair of the commission, Ms Sophie Dematera, recording secretary. Fiscal Gina Frilles-Gabito heads the Justice and Peace Desk, Dr Harold Philip Dechavez and Dr Elna Fajardo-Banzon, Health and Nutrition, Danny Tumalad and Ben Vitug, Livelihood, and Mac Chavez, Ecology and Environment.

The commission will meet every third Wednesday of the month, the next one being on November 18, 2009.

novena masses begin

The Novena Masses in preparation for the Feast of the Last Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (October 13) begin today. This year's feast will focus on the general theme: GATHERING AROUND MARY: MOTHER OF PRIESTS - a theme chosen because of the celebration of this YEAR FOR PRIESTS.

The first Mass will be celebrated this afternoon at 5:15 by our parish priest, Msgr Gerry del Prado. The theme for the day is MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH.

Commentator: Sophia Dematera
Lectors: Ofelia Velasco, Glenda Goingo
Lead Commission: Commission on Temporalities
Sponsoring Kapilyas: Bibincahan East, Sulucan
In attendance: OLPS High School and Philosophy Departments, WRI, Bibincahan Elementary School, Metrobank
Lead Choir: Fatima Parish Choir

reorganizational meeting, commission on service

There will be a meeting at the Parish Rectory Conference Room at 6;oo pm today, October 4, to reorganize the Commission on Service. The following have been invited to join this first meeting of the commission for this new quinquennium - Mac Chavez, Moises Espigol, Elna Fajardo-Banzon, Gina Frilles-Gabito, Sophie Dematera, Harold Philip Dechavez, Alfred Velasco, Ben Vitug, Danny Tumalad, Fr Jose Arje Flestado is the priest-adviser of the commission.

no-homily sunday

Per instruction by the Bishop, no homilies will be delivered at all Masses in churches and chapels today, the 27th in Ordinary Time. Instead, the PASTORAL LETTER ANNOUNCING THE CONVOCATION OF THE SECOND DIOCESAN PASTORAL ASSEMBLY will be read by the priests.

The DPA2 will be held on Nov. 5-6, 2009 at the Our Lady of Penafrancia Seminary High School, with about four hundred participants from the clergy, religious men and women and lay delegates from all parishes. A continuation of the DPA1 held on Nov 24-26, 2003, this diocesan gathering aims to 1) clarify the new goal of the Diocesan Ecclesial and Evangelization Program (DEEP), 2) to revisit the diosesan Vision and Mission , 3) to reveiw the structures of the implementation of the DEEP and 4) to obtain a leveliong of understanding of the diocesan pastoral plan, particularly of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), and strategies of its implementation.

reflections for the 27th sunday in ordinary time (b)

Time and again, the enemies of Jesus approached him to ask questions, not to get answers and benefit from his wisdom, nor for any spiritual or intellectual curiosity, but simply to trip him up. In this Sunday's Gospel episode they thought that they had the perfect formula to achieve this purpose. After all, it involved the Mosaic Law, with Moses himself approving divorce between husbands and wives. Jesus pointed out two things: 1) the total lack of biblical foundation of divorce - behind Moses' approval was the stubbornness of the Jews, and 2) the unassailable foundation upon which the union of man and woman is built. That foundation predates anything in written history as it goes back to the very dawn of creation, to the time, in fact, when woman was created. Above Moses was God who ordained that man and woman should be one, thus establishing the indissolubility of marriage. What God, indeed, has joined together, men must not divide.

The answer that Jesus gives reveals in a way his role as restorer. He restores the law into its original prestige - observed, respected, regarded with awe, because it is authored by God. And to complete what was lacking in the Mosaic Law, Jesus elevated the union of man and woman into a sacrament.

Because God is directly involved and reveals His face in that union, it falls upon us all to help preserve Christian marriage. We must never be taken in by the seeming advantages there are in the divorce of a husband and a wife. Because it is a direct violation of the will of God, it is only a matter of time when the evil of consequences inherent in such violation fall heavily both on the guilty and the innocent. May we never become party to the violation of the will of God who has made the love and union of a man and a woman so sublime and honorable as to make it an eloquent sign and symbol of His love for us, His people, making mere human partakers of His creative power. (Fr JESS A. ENCISO)

CALL TO MEETING

A REMINDER TO ALL CHAIRPERSONS-HERMANOS/AS OF THE KAPILYA PASTORAL COUNCILS (KPCs) OF THE PARISH OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA -

AN EMERGENCY MEETING IN PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE OCTOBER 13 FIESTA

ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009
AT 1:00 IN THE AFTERNOON
AT THE BIBLE CENTER, FATIMA PARISH COMPOUND.

OLFP welcomes its new priest

The OLFP family is very proud and pleased to welcome its newest priest, REV FR JOSE CHRISLY ERENO, who was ordained priest this morning at 9:30 at the St Anthony of Padua Parsih, Gubat, Sorsogon. Fr Chrisly has been our parish deacon since July. He will continue to serve in this parish until December 2011.

Fr Chrisly is the son of Cesar and Jelly Balderama Ereno of Gubat and Irosin, Sorsogon. He finished high school and philosophy studies at the Our Lady of Penafrancia Seminary. He did his theology at the Universita della Santa Croce, with residence at the Sedes Sapientiae Seminary, in Rome. Before his ordination as priest, he served in the parishes of Pilar, Juban and Fatima. Apart from being parochial vicar of OLFP, Fr Chrisly is also a professor at the Our Lady of Penafrancia Minor Seminary. Fr Chrisly is in charge of the Commissions on Worship and Education, and is in charge of Clusters 1 and 2 of the Kapilya Pastoral Councils.