“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.”