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November 25, 2023, Saturday; 112 pax; 16 clergy persons. Commenced by Holy Mass: Bp. Buddy Ballesteros as main celebrant & preacher; clergy as concelebrators. Priests gifted with grocery packs -- thanks much!. Mass followed by business meeting, lunch, & program of songs & dances. Camaraderie, gift-giving, and merry-making as prelude to the forthcoming holiday season. Thanks and glory to God for the bountiful blessings!

By empowering individuals, fostering fellowship, and providing a platform for sharing knowledge and experiences, the Diocesan Laymen's Fellowship will undoubtedly pave the way for a brighter future within the diocese. As participants gather this Saturday, hearts will be filled with hope, and the spirit of unity will flourish, leaving a lasting imprint on the diocesan community for years to come.

Bishop Porlares won over the lone opponent candidate, the Rt. Rev. Felixberto L. Calang (Cagayan de Oro), for the office of the Supreme Bishop (Chief Pastor and Chief Executive Officer); while Bishop Ranojo edged out the Rt. Rev. Carlo A. Morales (Ozamis) for the position of General Secretary (Chief Operations Officer). Only one ballot-casting, individually done for each position, was sufficient to determine the outcome winners for both offices.

Members of three covenant churches, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), and the Iglesia Unida Ekyumenical (IUE), together gathered at the IFI Conference Center on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in fellowship and celebration of their covenant partnerships. These three churches are also member-churches of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

Led by the diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vicente Salvador Ballesteros, and the domestic prelate, the Msgr. Cesar Emmanuel Ballesteros, the 14-member diocesan clergy and four select clergy relatives, embarked at 6:30 am on their trip towards the Villa Resurreccion in Tanay, Rizal. Arriving at 9:00 am, they helped themselves to a hearty breakfast at the venue, and then sat down to a collective study of the DGMA Clergy Rule of Life for review and revision of outdated policies.

The Diocese of Greater Manila Area (DGMA), in its post-pandemic face-to-face celebration of Maundy Thursday, gathered its clergy at the Parish of the Resurrection in Balingasa, Quezon City, on April 6, 2023. It started at 8:30 am with the Holy Eucharist for the renewal of clergy vows and the blessing of oils used by the Church. Eighteen clergy persons participated in this special religious gathering.

It is our hope therefore that the ECP-IFI Concordat, through the constant dialogue, conversation and meeting facilitated by the Advisory Council, will lead and bring the two Churches live-out, among others, the lesson in last Sunday’s gospel. We heard from John’s gospel yesterday that the Lord Jesus restored the sight of the person who was blind since birth when he passed by in his place and saw him begging along the way. We pray that this ECP-IFI Concordat shall be enabled by the Lord’s Spirit to “see” our people’s misery and work together to “restore” wholeness of our people’s lives.

"The more you honor Me [Jesus], the more you will be blessed," summed up the essence of the grandiose dual celebrations at the IFI Pandacan Parish with the rededication ceremony of its newly renovated beautiful Altar coinciding with the annual feast of the beloved Santo Nino on January 14, 2023, Saturday. The Rt. Rev. Vicente Salvador Ballesteros, diocesan bishop, and the Rt. Rev. Warlito Baldomero, OIC parish rector, led the well-attended festivities, starting at 8:30 A.M. with the blessing of the Altar and the concelebrated Holy Eucharist. The 2023 Fiesta Hermano Mayor, main contributor to the major fiesta expenses, was Mr. Joel Cruz, business owner of the famous "Afficionado" perfumery in the Philippines.

This horrific incident happened on Monday, January 23, 2023, at 8:30 A.M., in Barangay Apolonio Samson, Quezon City, where the Cathedral is located. After the beautiful celebration of the Santo Nino festival the day before climaxed by an evening procession, the exhilarated community woke up unaware, and then in shock swiftly witnessed the Cathedral ceiling burning. In just five minutes, the ceiling fire above rapidly spread like an inundated river of burning inferno and quickly started spewing downwards droplets of burning hot plastic paint. The Rev. Severino Ismael II, canon of the Cathedral, explained, “It was literally raining droplets of fire from the ceiling!” Bishop Buddy, Father Severino, and Rose Madrelejos (office secretary) suffered skin burns akin to cigarette-stub wounds on their arms.

The Silver Anniversary Celebration has featured two major gathering of women clergy: the Kick-Off Gathering in June 2022 in DCENT, Bulua, CDO and this week’s Culminating Activity. Earlier, the IFI held the Second Decade Celebration of Women Ordination in 2018 at the National Cathedral.
To date, there are around sixty-six (66) women clergy all over the Church and their ministry have immensely blessed the IFI.

Some 188 clergy participants of the South-Central Luzon trooped to the Cathedral of the Birhen Maulawin to re-start the face-to-face activities of the annual 11th clergy Convocation; interrupted by the pandemic lockdown for two consecutive years. Hence, today, this resumed event is the 13th gathering of the clergy people for worship, fellowship, study, and recreation.

The “lakbay-aral” is part of the Obispado Maximo’s Clergy Ministerial Formation (CMF) Program. This program “provide opportunities for learning and enrichment of the clergy’s ministry.”

The visit started at Colegio de San Letran where Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr. and Obispo Maximo Gregorio Aglipay had studied. The next stop was in the Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr. Elementary School in Tondo, then to the Sitio Sulukan (Plaza Guipit) in Sampaloc, Manila where the Union Obrera Democratic was founded...

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