Proud moments of being the mother of two wonderful children. First daughter embarked on playing her cello again, after 15 years of being away from it. She did her part, practiced for a month and played with 75 musicians and 82 Legal voices of the LA Lawyers Philharmonic. The progeny of this group is the LA Junior Philharmonic, which she played with, 15 years ago with her cousin, Brian Louis on the French horn.
Youngest son embarked on a 7 day bike ride, 545 miles from SF to LA. The longest ride was on the second day, 105 miles and the shortest ride was 57 miles. He biked every mile of the 545 miles, going through farm fields, hills, and more. He also witnessed the support of towns and communities.
They both did these personal feats to raise funds for indigents to secure legal services and for ALC (AIDS Life Cycle) to raise funds to benefit school projects and many charities. I love seeing them do these personal bests, transcending their comfort zones to live lives to serve others! Way to go my children!!- Prosy Delacruz
It was gray, dreary and cold. At least, it was just rain droplets, not rain showers. But this morning, the weariness from lack of sleep at dawn hours is visible in many folks’ faces, except this priest, Fr. Marinello Saguin, full of vigor and vitality.
He gave one of the best homilies in 8 days, come to think of it, 8 homilies out of 8 days are all good, just various degrees of spiritual depth, wisdom and correlations. As one priest ages, the more correlations he make.
As a young priest demonstrates, he is able to connect more with folks with his props, his vigorous speech and his innate joyfulness, that is Fr. Saguin.
This is his homily, 14 minutes long, yet felt so short.
We are celebrating 8th day of Simbang Gabi, reading these gospels, but why? To see the beauty of our faith, the heart and center of this season, Emmanuel is with us. It is a gift, a rich heritage that we inherited.
“Why are we waking up early? If Christmas, we think of vacation, no classes, bonus for shopping at Americana. But, the heart and center of this season is Christ, but is he?”, he inquired.
But is Christ really enough? If given dollars by godmom and godfather, will you reject it and say Christ is enough? Of course not, as we learned from our godparents.
It reminds him of Simon in second grade. Simon was the second smallest kid in class. He wanted to bully somebody but all were bigger than him. He found the youngest one, named Theodore. He did beat up Theodore and Theodore went to see Sister Agustine. Simon was given 100 standards to be written on the chalk board, “I will not beat up Theodore.”
Still, Simon did the offensive gesture a number of times, at least four, until it dawned on him to ask Sister Agustine, “I know I am going to hit Theodore again, I will do it again, I will be writing these 100 standards, so why do I keep on doing it,” he asked?
Sister Agustine responded, “Until you start loving Jesus more, until you start loving Jesus more than hitting Theodore, you will continue to do so.”
This is what we do, Fr. Saguin said, to experience the love of Jesus to experience the love of God and neighbor that penetrates the depths of our soul. You recall that from saintly and not so saintly people appears Jesus. Nothing is impossible with God. You recall Zechariah who can’t believe but had to get rid of his anxieties and fears and let God in. Just as Mary did, the handmaiden of the Lord, who opened herself up so God can come in.
He then called a volunteer, Efren Alabastro, who held the first can of campbell soup, a symbol of sins: anxieties, fears, judgemental, bitterness, resentments, and we carry the externals of life, we preoccupy ourselves with them, all 7 cans.
Then he challenged him to accept Baby Jesus wrapped in white blanket with both hands. He had to let go of the cans of soup to accept Jesus and not drop him. The parish applauded.
Until we start loving Jesus more, and see Him loving us back, then, that is the essence of Christmas!
PS. He received two applauses at the end of his homily and another one during acknowledgements.
I sense the appreciation of this community by the rounds of applauses they spontaneously give to the priest after homily. At times, they are not content with just one round of applause, they do another round. This was one of the best homilies I have heard as folks remember it and identify with what he said in very positive terms, to love Jesus more!!
Who is Fr. Marinello Ruel Saguin?
“Fr. Marinello Ruel Saguin was born and raised in Los Angeles, particularly the Silver Lake and Glendale areas, where his mother, brother and plenty of family members still reside. Growing up he attended St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Los Angeles. He attended St. Francis of Assisi Parish School and St. Francis High School in La Canada.
He heard the Lord’s voice calling to serve Him at an early age, beginning in second grade and decided to enter the college seminary for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after high school. He studied at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon, discerning during his seminary college years for a more contemplative life. He entered the Discalced Carmelite Friars, Province of St. Joseph, and was with them for five years. During that time he was exposed to various apostolates of the province such as retreat work and parish ministry.
After further prayer and discernment, he decided to return to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to complete his priestly formation. He was assigned to Holy Name of Jesus Parish in South Los Angeles for a pastoral year and graduated from the theologate in May, 2014 and shortly after, headed to Mexico for an intensive Spanish immersion program. In preparation for his diaconate ordination in November 2014 he was assigned to another pastoral year, this time at St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Camarillo. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on May 30, 2015. He officially joined St. Margaret Mary on July 1, 2015.”
Four Filipino/a Journalists were finalists in different categories: Cher Calvin, Ruben and Janet Nepales and Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz.
Janet Nepales won third place for celebrity feature on Garner. She said, “I won in the “Celebrity Feature (Under 1,000 words) – Print”, Third Place for my article entitled “Jennifer Garner on her life and its miracles,” printed in Manila Bulletin on March 16, 2016.”
Janet Nepales was a finalist in 3 categories, while Ruben in 1 category and Cher in 1 category. We were all proud to represent the Fil-Am community and wished each other good luck.
I was thrilled to be a finalist in the column category with LA Times, Jewish Journal, LA Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter. I was also a finalist in the online culture critic with New York Times, The Daily Beast and Truthdig.
The Hollywood Reporter bagged most of the awards. We were seated with California Rocker’s Donna Balancia who won the best action photo and her colleague, Suzanne Allison Witkin for best photo essay.
Thirty-one days of camping, juicing, of cooking nutritious meals. What I did cook today – salmon in tomato broth, oregano, basil, and olive bread with garlic and sautéed mushrooms in butter – all tasted good but weariness is all I could taste. Even the bees sensed my restlessness, as they hovered around me, buzzing, teasing me as if to bite me, yet, I managed to calm myself down.
I do not sleep like a log – I move about and when there’s skimpy space to move inside the van, I wake up and I wake up my husband as well. Then, it is about falling asleep again, which as one ages, grows more gray hair and is not as easy to do.But as difficult and taxing it is to my physical body, the rewards are priceless – seeing the sunset – a blue line, a gold line, intersecting with white clouds, and then receding golden sun’s rays; a deep blue lake from a mountain that blew its top – a metaphor for blowing one’s top off, releasing all one’s toxic energies accumulated from past hurts/trauma to reveal a magnificent purity within, where good energies can be channeled back and forth and not stopped.
I call it an open heart, allowing others to influence you, to persuade you, to see it from their perspective, not just my own. My husband calls it a deeply rooted tree without rocks to stop the inflow of nutrients from the soil, after watering.And just when I am about to give up camping, my husband hurries us both to see Watchman lookout at sunset. How gorgeous it is – blue, gray, gold, white bands, and then a blue backdrop – and my weariness evaporates with the howling music of the winds. Howling, haunting, but also soothing, and liberating for one’s spirit to join with the winds.
When you are seasoned with the salt of Truth, your own body of knowledge suddenly reveals a new dimension. The principle of relativity is mad practical in a new concept of unitivity. You will come to see that even as the subatomic particle has no existence outside of the electromagnetic field that holds the atom together, but is the field expressing as a particle, so man has no existence outside of God, but is the activity of God expressing as man. All your scientific facts suddenly come alive, they become dynamic potencies. And with this keener insight, you become a seasoning influence in the world. You become a peacemaker.
Eric Butterworth, Discover the Power Within You, 1989
Thirty-one days of camping, juicing, of cooking nutritious meals. What I did cook today – salmon in tomato broth, oregano, basil, and olive bread with garlic and sautéed mushrooms in butter – all tasted good but weariness is all I could taste. Even the bees sensed my restlessness, as they hovered around me, buzzing, teasing me as if to bite me, yet, I managed to calm myself down.
I do not sleep like a log – I move about and when there’s skimpy space to move inside the van, I wake up and I wake up my husband as well. Then, it is about falling asleep again, which as one ages, grows more gray hair and is not as easy to do.
But as difficult and taxing it is to my physical body, the rewards are priceless – seeing the sunset – a blue line, a gold line, intersecting with white clouds, and then receding golden sun’s rays; a deep blue lake from a mountain that blew its top – a metaphor for blowing one’s top off, releasing all one’s toxic energies accumulated from past hurts/trauma to reveal a magnificent purity within, where good energies can be channeled back and forth and not stopped.
I call it an open heart, allowing others to influence you, to persuade you, to see it from their perspective, not just my own. My husband calls it a deeply rooted tree without rocks to stop the inflow of nutrients from the soil, after watering.
And just when I am about to give up camping, my husband hurries us both to see Watchman lookout at sunset. How gorgeous it is – blue, gray, gold, white bands, and then a blue backdrop – and my weariness evaporates with the howling music of the winds. Howling, haunting, but also soothing, and liberating for one’s spirit to join with the winds.
Seeing my husband so happy, so relaxed, and so comfortable is enough to know he found his bliss. As to me, the rustling of the winds, leaves of trees and violin music with a good sleep and hot showers at the camp store energize me — a new being no longer remembering the 31 days with only four days of hotel nights to break the routine, or to politely say, to restore my civilized ways of using the bathroom.
How do we exactly use the bathroom, as any other campers do? Ask them the next time you meet them. We all have devised our ways of dealing outdoor life. Ask middle school girls and they are more upfront, “After three days, you start not caring anymore. You start enjoying nature and what it can offer. Then, you just look around.” They have more uncommon sense than this writer.
As we walked up the Watchman trail, this uphill climb is for strenuous serious climbers, whose calves have been pre-conditioned to take the wear and tear of climbing and walking. As we climbed, I was huffing and puffing, catching my breath. I wish I were home. But not quite, as it is described as “the Watchman Peak Trail in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon is a moderately steep 1.6 mile out and back climb to a 360 degree view on the west side above Crater Lake from a historic fire lookout. This key vantage point offers spectacular views of the lake and Wizard Island, especially in the afternoon. Also night hikes with a ranger are available for some awesome star gazing,”AllTrails.com wrote.
But as the sunset glow disappeared, a canopy of twinkling stars appeared. With a roaring fire, a glass of red wine, the crackling sounds coupled with fragrant smell of cedar logs gave a balm to my tired spirit, my weariness became contentment and happiness that we, seniors, are still able to do this.
The canopy shrouded the trees as if Christmas lights, which instantly brought me joy: Jupiter, Mars, Procyon, Rigel.
I reflected on the lessons I learned:
Convenience is not the easy route. Taking a short cut on the trails can prolong your walk and can take you to the mountains that you must climb to get you back. Nature is meant to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace, to be still, to absorb what it brings, and not to hurry to reach the end of the trail.
Struggle through your inner demons. In doing so, you find your characteristic strength and somehow you realize you have acquired endurance.
Gourmet cooking of nutritious meals is so doable, so is juicing. Planning is key and when unplanned, creativity makes you develop new recipes. Like I did not have meat to go with my okra, eggplant and bittermelon, so I made my soul dish, pinakbet using mushrooms, as if meat. Husband raved about the dish as he likes to eat mostly vegetables.
Essential sanitizing and personal grooming can be sustained by creative means – the essential tabo, a makeshift shower stall, and taking your shower at 2 p.m., the peak of the afternoon, allowing your water basin to heat the water the natural solar way. The key is to respect your present capacity to endure nature’s burdens and rewards. The rewards are to be appreciated and the burdens are to be endured without complaints, but with creativity.
Remember to pray. Start your day with prayers, keep praying all the time, as in prayers, you are connected with the Divine, and surprise miracles come your way. Like meeting good folks, fellow campers, who live in Washington and share their secrets of going to Mount Rainier, bypassing the two-mile long traffic and getting the last camping space. That is when you know God is reserving that spot for you, a miracle for that season.
Listen to your instincts. Road guides are good, but smarts and instincts are much better than google maps. My husband has saved us being lost by following his radar about direction. On the other hand, google maps located repair shops and hotels for us.
Connect with praying to the spirits of the place for eternal protection and guidance, it is always there for the asking, whatever country you find yourself in. It protects you and it guides you to meet positive adventurous folks.
Cultivate your friendship circles, they are your safety net, ones you text to while on the road, they provide you easy routes known only to locals, they steer you away from long waits that tourists go through, and they give you local tidbit of news that you could not get from newsletters, books or newspapers.
Trust your common sense, your uncommon wisdom that you have derived all these decades.
Teamwork is essential. We got tested in our patience with one another only once. I quickly behaved as I wanted my showers, he behaved too as he wanted his hot meals. Camping in the outdoors can make you rely on one another.
Strange, spontaneous norms of locals is okay – honey bucket for toilets, road names, beach numbers and forest service roads. Learn the culture of the place and you will be accommodated well.
Accept kindness and be kind to others as well. Karma is a full circle. Plant honesty and later, you harvest honesty. I received a book of poetry written by a woman survivor of cancer and I excerpted a quote from her book and sent the essay to her by email. I also took a picture of soldiers climbing Mount Rainier, summitting it as antidote to suicides. I learned that soldiers after duty service in war zones suffer post traumatic distress. Without their soldier buddies, recovering is difficult and they resort to suicide. Now, psychological services are available to them and folks stay connected and do summit trails together.
You can be the tree that shoots upward, breaking a wedge on the limestone, growing upright to the sky. All you need is patience to receive God’s miracles, resilience, openness to the challenges and accepting them as lessons to be learned and guidance from divine teachers you meet, in the form of strangers.
Thanks be to the core
For you helped me
Be in touch with my inner core
And to hear my husband say
Prosy, you found your rhyme within
To get a big hug from my 20-year-old
Daughter
Mom, you entered our world
To have the space to write
To have the space to be
Thanks be to the core
You helped me grow myself once more!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! My profound gratitude to the Asian Journal’s readers for your letters and dialogues on Facebook and for reading Rhizomes. A profound thanks to Christina (my editor) who inspires me, and to Roger and Cora for trusting me with this column space, now on its 10th year. My profound thanks to my husband, Enrique who drove us one summer, from LA to British Columbia, for 31 days, August to Sept. 2013.
“Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2) May St. Peter’s words be engraved on our hearts! We are called and constituted pastors, not pastors by ourselves but by the Lord: and not to serve ourselves but the flock that has been entrusted to us, and to serve it to the point of laying down our life, like Christ, the Good Sheperd (see John 10:11) – Pope Francis, 9/19/2013, Address to a Group of Newly Appointed Bishops Taking Part in a Conference.
A Pastor’s Journey: Circumstances of God’s Call to Him
“Nothing is a direct line,” he said, a metaphor perhaps of how he was waylaid by vices of smoking, drinking, and marijuana in high school.
“I was not the worst, but I was also not the best, and I am not proud of that.”
He went to Don Bosco High School in Makati, Philippines, and was one of the top students in the class. Active in varsity, volleyball, and boy scouts, he became a student council leader.
In his third year, he attended the retreat handled by the Youth Marian Crusade. The congregation was then known as the Anointed of Mary. This became a turning point in his life. He stopped his vices. He joined the youth group.
In 1982, he joined the congregation of the Marian Missionaries for Holy Cross (MMHC), founded by Leticia Albert, which was not yet approved then.
MMHC went through approval stages, first as a pious association, second as a religious institute of consecrated life, and third as a Canonical established by Bishop Camilo Gregorio as Religious Institute of Diocesan Right.
Ordained on December 11, 1991, he became an ordained priest at age 25. While his 25th anniversary is On Dec. 11, 2016, “I will celebrate it in the US on June 22, 2016, so I can join my batchmate, Fr. Rafael Bababo, MMHC, on December 11, 2016, in the Philippines.”
In 1997, he took a special course in Basic 1 Sign Language at RIDE for two weeks. Since then, he started a regular mass using sign language at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Marikina City. At Holy Family Church in Artesia, a sign language interpreter is also available for Saturday’s anticipated mass.
He serves as a general council member of the MMHC Generalate, the leadership executive council of his religious organization.
He completed all academic requirements for a Master’s in Psychology and Clinical Psychology and comprehensive exams in UST in 1999. “I did not get to complete my thesis as this was abruptly interrupted by internal problems in the congregation at that time. I was sent to Bacolod instead of finishing my thesis,” he said.
In 2009, he went to the Spanish School Fundacion Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala.
When he migrated to the U.S., he served for five years at the request of the pastor of St. Philomena in Carson. He then moved to 2 other parishes. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in his third year, asked him, as a condition of giving him a green card, to bring his congregation to the Archdiocese. Vicar of Clergy Msgr. Gabe Gonzalez wanted MMHC to administer a parish and work in the Archdiocese.
Holy Family Church (HFC)
In Artesia, amongst a row of residential homes, near a park and a school, is the Holy Family Church. At sunset, a 13 feet Divine Mercy painting gets light’s rays and, mostly, shadows by the church’s entrance. It beckons you to come inside, and you hear the Gregorian chants, compelling you to take a moment with God.
At night, the statue of the Holy Family is lit as if welcoming all to come.
A parishioner since the 1980s, Boots Feraren-Tecson, commented: “Our beloved pastor oftentimes mentions that he thinks he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“Well, I do believe he has, LOL. Ever since he came to Holy Family, every nook and cranny of our parish has been transformed, added onto, converted, beautified, and, mind you, mostly with his and his associate’s hands! I think even in his sleep, his mind does not stop thinking of ways to improve our whole parish (which includes our school)! I also look forward to hearing his motivating/inspiring homilies.
”He has engaged the parish, from the very young to the oldest member, in so many ways that even if he added masses to alleviate the crowd, it still didn’t fix the problem since more people come.”
Curious, I went to 7 pm mass one Sunday. One can count the pews filled. But, a few minutes later, the choir started assembling as a group. The energy of the parishioners filled up the chambers, and enthusiastic singing began.
I shared one of their songs on Instagram, and folks kept asking, “where is this church?” I imagined they did as the choir sang with heartfelt expressions of love for the Almighty.
Choir members lined up in a straight line, facing the altar, at key moments of prayers, and by their examples, modeled for the rest how to behave at mass.
Everyone was disciplined. As the last song was sung, the projector flashed a message, requesting parishioners not to leave yet, as a way of showing respect for the Eucharist.
Pieta at the Vestibule
A Pietá replica is lit with overhead lights, encircled by four tiers of memory candles to commemorate deceased parishioners in the vestibule.
The lights and the somber sacred sculpture create a zone of silence, muting the sounds of the city outside, honking horns, screeching brakes, and moving wheels.
The Pietá, pity in Italian, is a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus Christ on her lap, depicting the event after Crucifixion, when Jesus’ dead body was removed from the cross, and before He was placed inside the tomb. It was commissioned by the French Cardinal Jean de Bilheres and sculpted out of Carrara marble by Michelangelo Buonarroti. “In her utter sadness and devastation, she seems resigned to what has happened and becomes enveloped in graceful acceptance. Christ, too, is depicted almost as if he is in a peaceful slumber, not one who has been bloodied and bruised after hours of torture and suffering. In supporting Christ, the Virgin’s right hand does not come into direct contact with his flesh, but instead, it is covered with a cloth that then touches Christ’s side. This signifies the sacredness of Christ’s body,” Italian Renaissance.org noted.
Since the 18th century, it has been housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City in Rome, while here at the Holy Family Church (HFC) in Artesia, California, the replica commissioned by Fr. Raymond Decipeda is in the vestibule, kept lighted 24/7, since mid-2014, ordered from Artisan Granite in Rhode Island.
“The Pieta consolidates the theme of the area of the vestibule that we renovated, and we are honoring and praying for the eternal repose of our beloved dead,” Fr. Raymond told Los Cerritos News on June 11, 2014.
Next to the Pietá in HFC – Artesia is Mother Teresa’s statue (Mother Teresa will be canonized as a Saint come Sept.4, 2016), kneeling and holding a toddler.
Across is the Mother of Perpetual Help, with baby Jesus on her left arm.
Both statues have ceiling lights encircled by several tiers of votive candles supported by annual subscriptions of parishioners.
Donations for the deceased aggregate yearly for the building’s maintenance fund but not for daily operations.
Fr. Raymond underscored they could not be used to sustain the priests’ lifestyles and not for extraordinary expenses of the administration. “We must live under budget and live below the means provided by the community,” and by being frugal, the pastor can make jobs secure for the church’s staff and “why not,” he said, as “they do the work through teamwork, accountability, transparency and good governance.”
What a people-centered philosophy, but also an open window into how he governs!
Belief in Good Church Governance Principles
I asked if he had any governance principles or what I called best practices. He instinctively responded five and pulled their latest parish directory from the shelf.
These principles are memorialized in the directory and italicized here, as Fr. Raymond’s quotes.
First: “The work of one pastor is built on the shoulders of pastors who came before me.”
It is a humbling principle, he said, “to pay homage to what the past pastors have done and acknowledge their contributions,” thereby making space for the present to be enjoyed.
Much like how the shrines were built and sustained by annual subscriptions to the memory candles, those who are here now remain connected to their dear departed.
Fr. Raymond took the continuity of connection to a higher level and challenged his parishioners on Feb. 7, 2016: “Those who came before us did their work of building for us. We enjoy and use what others built before us. Now that you are here, what is your contribution?”
Collective responsibility is about providing not just for the present but also for the next generations to come, a strategic giving of parishioners, coupled with working with their current pastor and his team of associates: Fr. Joachim Eugene Ma. Ablanida and Fr. Thomas Asia. Both had photos on the scaffolding, painting the church’s statues to bring back their former elegance.
This “do it yourself” work ethic of the pastor and his team conserves the church funds but also demonstrates in practice that the leadership team of pastors and associates are equal in stature to the parishioners, who are all working hard, as an overall parish team, for the common good of all.
One parishioner said, “He is the tyrant we do not want to see leave.”
Recently, a new pastor associate joined the team at HFC, Fr. Joshua Jose Emilio Ma. Santos.
Second: “We will be good stewards of the parish’s resources. We don’t fundraise to support our lifestyle. What was collected on Sundays, we live within those means.”
He described how he became a “tyrant” in insisting that utilities go down by turning off lights as one leaves the room to gain control over expenditures.
He took me to the altar to show the altar frontal cover that he had sewn, with fabrics bought in downtown Los Angeles, with gilded laced edgings he selected, “We have four of these,” he said.
On Fr. Raymond’s desk, one notices a blueprint for an open patio and children’s pavilion, “We started planning for the building of the open patio on January 2014. After personally being on top of the roof of the old lunch table area, I decided that it was time to build a new and better facility in its place. But how do we raise the money? Where do I start? I felt if it was God’s will, then God will show the way. We didn’t even have the money at that time, and after a year and a half, we raised almost 1 million [dollars] to build the open patio named Nazareth Hall. Why Nazareth? Because that was the place where Jesus grew up – and this will be the place where our young people will grow up,“ he posted recently on Facebook.
The patio and children’s pavilion construction has begun, and parish leaders are involved in the supervision as much as Fr. Raymond.
As of March 5, fifteen construction crew were busy pouring and etching concrete flooring while children were embedding miraculous medals of the Virgin Mary on the flooring of Nazareth Hall, “May the Lord watch over our children who will be using Nazareth Hall, “ Fr. Raymond wrote.
Third: “The parish’s strength is in how it takes care of its weakest.”
With their established food pantry, needy families are helped. His team of priests also makes monthly visits to the sick, anointing them, hearing confessions, and administering the Eucharist. On weekends, they also concelebrate a mass for the prisoners.
“We celebrate Sunday Mass at the Terminal Island Federal Bureau of Prisons. This is on top of our 11 weekend Masses,” Fr. Raymond continued.
Once a year, they provide legal assistance through volunteer lawyers and medical professionals. In partnership with UCLA, an Annual health fair is organized to give mammograms, check-ups, flu shots, and dental services, including optometrists, for glasses. Two boxes sit in his office with used eyeglass frames for his ministry to give glasses to those who need them in the Philippines.
Fourth: “The Eucharist is the unifying factor.”
Every Saturday afternoon and all Sunday, twelve masses are offered in five languages: English, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, and Sign language for deaf parishioners, but not Tagalog, although some songs are sung in Tagalog.
I find it exemplary that a dozen masses are offered, as there is not a comparable church in Los Angeles, Lompoc, Philippines, Japan, or Mexico, not even the Cathedral of Angels downtown, which I have visited, offers these many masses. In the church where I worship, four masses are offered on Sundays; while another in East Hollywood offers seven masses.
The church is aesthetically decorated, with an altar of repose quite elaborate to depict the love of the Virgin Mary for her son, but also replete with details of love and suffering.
For its Christmas manger decorations, the themes are uniquely conceptualized each year. “The intention is always to make the mass a wonderful experience, a celebration for the people,” he said, “in terms of homilies, songs, and sacraments.”
Fifth: “The Blessed Virgin Mary is our model and guide.”
Like the Virgin Mother, HFC’s priests pay special attention to forming the youth’s spirituality. Programs for confirmation have been changed.
Fr. Raymond holds parental seminars five times a year and gives talks to students four times a year. Recently, he led the confessions of 120 Confirmation students.
Each of his associate priests takes responsibility and leads their own subsets of classes for the young children, preparing them for confirmation.
Animated by the Holy Spirit, Light is Everywhere
Love is vibrantly expressed in HFC: the altar is meticulously decorated with aesthetic details of love, statues are lovingly restored, and the garden is tended to by the pastor and his associates.
Where does this energy come from?
Fr. Raymond simply smiled and took me to the back of the church, where several dozens of orchid plants are being recycled, by watering, waiting for the next blooms, perhaps by Easter. This way, “we can also cut down on flower expenses,” without foregoing flowers, he said.
“The children of the world are more enterprising as children of light, “ Fr. Raymond responded.
But, truly, where is his animation coming from? Is it his religious organization, the MMHC?
“The personality of the church comes from the pastor. If the pastor is energetic, so is the parish.”
But more than that, is it his training and the team’s support? Or is he atoning for his past, as we all?
Fr. Raymond shares more about MMHC, “After 200 years of Catholicism, MMHC is the first organization, founded by Filipinos Leticia Albert and Bishop Camilo Gregorio, to be approved by the Vatican.”
MMHC asserts their spirit, “Impelled by the love of Jesus on the cross, we, the Marian Missionaries of the Holy Cross, draw strength from the compassionate and all-embracing love of the Father, the humble service and solicitude of the Son, especially for the youth and the prisoners, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that animates and fires us for our missionary work. We courageously stand at the foot of the cross with Mary, our Mother and model of discipleship, the woman of joyful obedience and faith.”
When I asked how much all these improvements cost, Fr. Raymond acknowledged the parishioners’ generosity to the tune of $2.5 million.
But HFC’s generosity is not self-centered, it has outreached to San Antonio de Padua of Basey, Samar, through Fr. Rex Ibanez.
HFC has helped rebuild a church flattened to rubble and ruins from Typhoon Yolanda, save for some statues. The newly rebuilt church cost Php 6 million, to which HFC contributed Php 4.5 million or $90,000.
As the church’s weekly collection has doubled and, at times, tripled, perhaps the accurate measure of a well-governed church led by Fr. Raymond is if his own brand of vitality and sound governance principles are multiplied by the parishioners, sustained for years to come? Will its spiritual vibrance last?
HFC-Artesia is now a spiritually vibrant church that ministers to the worship and pastoral needs of its flock: from the very young children, the youth, the professionals, the married couples, and the seniors, as Boots Feraren-Tecson attested to, a parishioner for 35 years.
By the end of June 2016, MMHC’s contract to lead HFC-Artesia ended, but not the giant footprints of the legacy work left by Fr. Raymond Decipeda and his tightly-knit team of associate priests and lay leaders.
“Everything comes in a package, when you have a Type A personality, you lead, you can accomplish, you are a go-getter, but you are also a pain in the rear. I get that. I am not kind and gentle, I am straight. Lord, I am simply grateful that you used me as I am, and I can serve,” he said.
MMHC’s Fr. Raymond has left the HFC-Artesia better than he found it: once a declining church with a deficit, declining attendance with dilapidated structures, to now a church which rises to greet anyone, “a Church with Life,” as one parishioner said, “a Church filled with light, the Holy Spirit, and good sounds of spiritual energies.”
