Leaders' Conference

After completing the Christian Life Program (CLP) and becoming members of Couples for Christ, it is inevitable for the new CFC members not to embrace its culture.  Aside from the weekly household meetings, there are community activities.  One of the activities to be attended is the annual Leaders' Conference. It is held at the Araneta Coliseum  at the middle of January.  It is usually started with a Holy Mass and is followed with two to three talks about the year's theme to let all leaders know what the directions for the year will be.  For 2011, the theme is "Put on the Full Armor of God" based on Ephesians 6:10-11 which says "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."  In simple words, it means that we have to be steadfast and firm in our faith in the Lord and His mighty power so we don't fall prey to the temptations of the devil.

When Jun and I were still Household Leaders, we usually go to Araneta Coliseum together with our Unit Leaders and the other Household Leaders in our unit.  For our first time to attend the conference, we met somewhere in Cubao for lunch and then proceeded to the venue early so we can be seated giving us a vantage point of the whole proceedings.  I recall we were all very excited and wide-eyed.  It takes on a different meaning when you do things together with people you care about.

The Red Sea

Now that we are already members of the Mission Core Group, I noticed that we attend the Leaders' Conference as a couple, not as members of a household.  Gone is the excitement that was synonymous with earlier outings.  Is it because the Leaders' Conference has lost its mystique to those who have been religiously attending it or that we have become complacent by virtue of our long stay in the community?

P.S.  Photo of the Full Armor of God logo was lifted from the Couples for Christ website.

What's Your Best CFC Story?

To celebrate the start of 2011, we are running the "What's Your Best CFC Story?" Contest.  This contest is open to all members of Couples for Christ and its family ministries in the Philippines and will run from January 1 to February 28, 2011.  For a minimum of 200 words and under your byline, share your CFC story which you find memorable, hilarious or heartwarming.  In your article, include your name and that of your spouse (if applicable); your current service, that is, your 2010 service; and from what sector or province you come from.  You can attach photos and/or videos to your article to make it more interesting.  If you are going to use articles, photos or videos of other authors as references, please don't forget to acknowledge them in your articles.  The twelve best articles will be judged according to content (30%), clarity (25%), impact (25%) and overall presentation (20%) and will be published in this blog at the rate of one article per month.  Only one entry will be allowed per participant.  All submitted entries become the property of this blog.

Aside from publishing your articles in this blog, we will be sending the lucky winners, through courier, a CFC
t-shirt.  Start sending those articles to cfc.westc@gmail.com.

Winning Souls for Christ Via Facebook Et Al

Last year, I attended a workshop at the Couples for Christ Center entitled "New Media Evangelization".  Majority of the attendees were from the Singles for Christ and I can only count a handful of Couples for Christ members, maybe because young people are more inclined to be interested with the theme of the workshop. We had Fr. Jboy Gonzales, Director of the Jesuit Communications (Jescomm) as resource person.  Aside from his duties for Jescomm, Fr. Jboy is a blogger with two blogs under his belt.

The Pope in the Age of Social Media

Fr. Jboy said that at present, there is a deficiency of faith in the Catholic Church here in the Philippines.  A vast number of Filipino Catholics are unchurched, meaning they don't go to Church or if they do, they don't know why they go to Church in the first place.  These so called unchurched are clueless on the rituals of the Church.  With this dire scenario not only in Philippines but worldwide, Pope Benedict XVI declared in his message at the 44th World Day of Communications in January, 2010  that the new mission area is the cyberspace.  He urged priests to be creative in carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God.  He even instructed them to use blogs in proclaiming the gospel instead of only having a website.  Blogs, one of the channels of social media, encourage interaction and engagement between readers and the blogger, compared to websites which tend to be static.  Fr. Jboy's blog, Faith of a Centurion, is a journal of the daily readings and gospels.  He presents the gospel in a very light manner and makes for interesting reading.

According to Susan Ward of About.com, social media is an online media that expedites conversation or dialogue as opposed to traditional media which doesn't allow readers to participate in content development.  In this medium, people are talking, giving comments, sharing and networking.  It is easy to share photos in Flikr and Picasa, blogs in Blogger and Wordpress, videos in YouTube, comments in Facebook, update status in Twitter or Plurk, to the world at large.  It is this characteristic of social media, that of being given a chance to be engaged and to engage others, that make it fun and very much acceptable to practically all ages.    

In the Philippine setting, there are 10 million Facebook users as of September 2010 according to the Philippine Internet Review.  Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, Multiply and Blogger lead the pack of the stickiest websites for Filipino internet users.

How then can the Church and religious organizations like Couples for Christ leverage on social media?  The Holy Father put it simply.  "Reach young believers by going to the places where they spend their time and converse".  

http://mashable.com/2010/01/24/pope-priests-blog/

http://philippineinternetreview.blogspot.com/2010/10/stickiest-websites-for-filipino.html

http://storico.radiovaticana.org/en1/storico/2010-01/351480_pope_benedict_s_message_for_44th_world_day_of_communications.html

My Household Christmas Party

If families hold reunion during Noche Buena, company employees and members of any organization, be it civic or religious, look forward to a Christmas party.  Christmas parties bring out the best in everyone.  The sisters bring their signature specialty viands, others showcase their talent in hosting the program while some are very able gamemasters.  Our household  under Bro. Junel and Sis. Cecille Ama held our Christmas party at the attic of the residence of the Amas.  Each couple brought food that was assigned to them in an earlier household meeting. 

Star of the Christmas table

Everybody busy getting food

Aside from food, we also brought gifts for the exchange gift and white elephant.  I got Cecille's gift while Nympha Padolina got mine.  For the white elephant, I brought a microwave, a remnant of my food cart business.  Nympha got the microwave but sadly I didn't get any gift from this game.  

Games

No party is complete without the karaoke.  Everyone had his turn in belting out his favorite song.  For karaoke regulars, one song is not enough though.  They could sing (or shout at times) a whole repertoire.

Rainier and Rodel belting their hearts out.

Before heading off home,  we had our group pictures taken.  These would be the official "family pictures" of our household .... well until the next reorganization.  Lol.

  

The Legacy Run

On November 28, while most of Metro Manila was still asleep, participants to the West C Legacy Run gathered at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.  The organizers of the event reported that the Legacy Run was a huge success.  The number of participants breached the target of 500 and all the t-shirts up for sale were sold out.  After the run, everyone settled for some games, ice cream novelties courtesy of Selecta and a mega-almusal for those who brought food.  For some who did not bring food like me, we ate our breakfast of chicken adobo flakes, fried rice and hot native chocolate at the nearby Chicken Bacolod.  Here are some of the photos taken to commemorate the first ever fun run of the CFC West C Sector.

Quezon Memorial Circle at the crack of dawn.

Participants getting ready to run.

At the water station.

Hula Hoop

Breakfast at Chicken Bacolod.