Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Retreats, Auctions, Faith Cafe and more ....

Dear Friends & Kababayans,


Hope you had a chance to watch the Presidential Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama yesterday. That was truly a historical event, almost 2M people watched it. They all stayed even with the cold weather. Total of four former presidents were present. For those of you who missed it, click this web link for his remarkable speech http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/20/president-obamas-inaugura_n_159370.html. Imagine if every one of us gives him and the members of the congress a blessing everyday he could lead our nation into the right direction. Wouldn’t it be nice if the nation’s economy will turn around for good, the schools will get better and will have an affordable health care for everyone to enjoy? Who knows even the “Freedom of Choice Act” proposed by the new Congress will be ignored to benefit the unborn babies. Kindly remember them in our prayers.

Here is a musical event that will add another feather in the cap for our talented musician Ken Canedo. He will be presenting this Saturday, January 24th, at St. Clare Parish, from 10:00am to Noon, a “Choral Reading Retreat” where he will share his music from Doxology with choirs from around the Portland region. It will also be a retreat for the participants as he shares reflections on the mystery of the Trinity. Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Ladies do you need a break from your busy schedule? Holy Trinity Parish is offering a Women’s Retreat on Saturday, February 7th. We gather at 8:30 am for refreshments, retreat from 9:00 am to 11:30 am and then, it will end with a mass with Fr. Dave. My daughter and I had an opportunity to attend this kind of a retreat last year with a different theme and it was fabulous. We had a bonding time with each other and with the Lord. It is geared for women ages from 16 to 100+ so you can invite your daughters, moms, grandmas and friends. Kindly click this web site for the directions: http://h-t.org/.

“A Taste of Peace” Wine Tasting & Silent Auction to support the ministries of the “Our Lady of Peace Retreat House” in Beaverton will be held on Saturday, February 7th, from 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Kindly, call 503-649-7127 or click this web site http://www.olpretreat.org/ for reservations. Our two Filipina Nuns (Sis Socorro and Sis Therese) who reside there, are extending their invitations to us. The members of the Legion of Mary volunteered to help with this Auction. Please come and join the fun.

Our community will be serving at the Faith Café on Sunday, February 8th, starting at 3:30PM until 8PM. We encourage you to join us and serve the least of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It will be a good opportunity for those needing community service hours. United First Methodist is located on the corner of SW 4th and SW Watson in Beaverton.

Do you have a reservation for Valentine’s Day? If not, the National Catholic Society of Forrester invites you to the Family Date Night. The Dinner features exotic Asian cuisine, from 6pm to 9pm, on Saturday, February 14th at our Lady of Sorrow Church in Portland. This event will benefit “Teresa Charities” Mission in the Philippines. It is heartwarming to hear the Filipino community at OLS is working together to raise funds to feed the elderly and poor back in our homeland. Detailed information is in the attached flyer.

There are lots of people hurting due to this down economy and one way we could help them is to give them support. If you or you know someone who needs a place to stay in the Beaverton area, there are two Filipino Families who have houses for rent. If you are interested, please give Grace a call at 503-531-9407 (h), 503-502-2715 (cell) and Remy at 503-645-9377.

Lastly, the intimate concert of Joey Albert at the Grotto last Sunday was a joy. We had another opportunity to see the Dambana. If you haven’t visited it lately, the new glass enclosure for the three statues was beautifully made. It survived the stormy weather. Dambana is a Filipino Shrine that every one of us should be proud of. We are truly grateful for all your support to make it happened. It was finally completed and this was only possible because of the excellent leadership of Pia Deleon, Titay Schoomer, and Dolly Specht.

Maraming Salamat Po and God bless us!