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!

Many Thanks and Future Ordinations

Dear Friends and kababayans,

What a glorious festivities last Saturday at Mount Angel in honor of our Santo Nino! It was truly a great honor in our community to have Archbishop John G. Vlasny who celebrated the mass and the President-Rector of the Mount Angel Seminary, The Very Reverend Richard Paperini who concelebrated along with several priests. It was a joyful and memorable event because your presence and the invited religious congregation filled up the Damain Center. They kept putting more chairs to accommodate everyone and yet, we had a standing room. The angelic voices of the Filipino Seminarians in the choir and some guests from San Francisco sang the liturgical songs so beautifully. The decoration was so festive, especially the bahay-kubo which brought some fond memories of our homeland. And yes, the feast of Santo Nino wasn’t complete without the Sinulog Procession (a dance offerings and prayers), the dancers were followed outdoor by the enthusiastic crowd. God is so good to us, even the weather cooperated! Of course the delightful food (rice, chicken adobo, pancit, lechon, lumpia and many more were served for everyone to enjoy! While eating, our international acclaimed artists, Joey Albert rendered a few songs, the famous TINIKLING dance was performed by the Sinulog of Portland, and a video that the seminarians put together was presented. Wow, the fine leadership of Manolito Jaldon and the rest of the Filipino Seminarians united many of us and did a wonderful job in organizing this amazing event, kindly see their email below. We are truly grateful for the outpouring support you have given to them.

This year there will be more blessings coming to our community. Mark your calendars, on Saturday, May 23rd, Rally Bien will be ordained as a deacon and on Saturday, June 13th, Deacon Cary Reniva and Deacon Maro Escano will be ordained in the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Portland. All of them will serve in the Portland Archdiocese. Here is the web link http://www.usccb.org/nab/ of the scripture readings for today which talks about the priesthood of Christ. You might want to listen also to the daily reflection. Please continue to pray for them that they will meet all the requirements for their graduations and ordinations. We are grateful Lord in grooming these fine young men into priesthood to serve YOU and your people.

The Lord takes delight on His people (you and me). Let us love one another as Christ loves the church and continue to pray for each other. Pray especially for our New-Elect President Barack Obama as he will begin his office starting tomorrow that our loving God will continue to guide his decisions and give him double dose of wisdom to serve the country and its people. For your leisure, check out the attached email about a Filipina chef in the White House.

Wishing you a peaceful day and enjoy the sun!

Maraming Salamat Po and God bless us!

Gentle Reminder - Feast of Santo

Dear Friends & Kababayans,

This is a gentle reminder of our upcoming event and of course the excitement is building up for the festivity at Mt. Angel Abbey/Seminary this coming Saturday, January 17th at 11 am. Kindly click this blog site http://mas-filipinos.blogspot.com/ that our Filipino Seminarians put together for our common love to the Santo Nino. Some of you asked for the directions to the Abbey, please see below:

DIRECTIONS TO MT. ANGEL ABBEY

Mount Angel Abbey
One Abbey Drive
St. Benedict, Oregon 97373

From Beaverton, take Hwy 217 South and merge onto I-5 South
Take exit 271 – WOODBURN

LEFT on Hwy 214 (Newberg Hwy) East
RIGHT on Hwy 99E South (Mt. Angel Abbey) (Landmark on your left is Safeway Store)
PROCEED through 2 stoplights
At the 3rd stoplight, turn LEFT on YOUNG Street (Hwy 214)
(Landmark: Smuckers) (Sign: Mt. Angel 7 miles)
CONTINUE driving. You will see a “WELCOME OCTOBERFEST” Sign.

PROCEED past MAIN Street (NOTE: SPEED LIMIT is 20-25 mph)
LEFT on CHURCH Street East. (Landmarks: Chevron, Clock, NAPA Auto Parts)
RIGHT on East COLLEGE Street. Continue driving
Turn RIGHT on ABBEY DRIVE. We will meet at the Damian Center.

We look forward to see all of you and remember to invite your families and friends so we can show our big support to our seminarians.

Maraming Salamat Po and God bless!

Feast of Santo Nino

Dear Friends & Kababayans,

Peace of Christ be with you!

Thank you for all those who came and celebrated the Simbang Gabi Masses in the EASTSIDE and at St. Helens Parish in Sweet Home. Some of you braved the weather even for two or three nights. These would not have happened if it is not for the fine leaderships of Millette Dela Cruz, Titay Schommer and Fr. Denish Ilogon in the eastside and Fr. Henry Rufo in Sweet Home. We are also grateful to Maryann Gaviola, Gigi Wolf and Divinia Poe for organizing the feast of the Holy Family in Salem. It was a joyful event with fine fellowships after the mass, delicious food and marvelous entertainment.

Our Filipino Seminarians at Mt. Angel Abbey are now busy preparing for the upcoming celebration of the Feast of Santo Nino, on Saturday, January 17th, at 11am. Archbishop John G. Vlasny will be presiding the mass. Please see the attached email from Pia DeLeon and Manolito Jaldon for detailed information including the concert of Joey Albert on the following day. In addition, Rudy Del Rosario is directing the SINULOG "Pit Senyor" procession/parade for the entertainment and they are still in need of people to join in. If you are interested to join in the fun, there will be a rehearsal on Saturday, January 10th, at 12:30pm, at Holy Trinity Parish in Beaverton. For more information, please see the attached email from Vanessa Bradley.

Are you looking for a Filipino Restaurant? If you happened to be in the Westside, there is a Filipino Restaurant called Zensation that opened a few months ago, click this website http://www.zensationrestaurant.com/ to get their menu. Also Ken Canedo mentioned after coming back from the Holidays that there is a Vegetarian Filipino Restaurant in the Los Angeles area. He said, “A Filipino restaurant in America is rare, but a VEGETARIAN Filipino restaurant is truly one-of-a-kind. I could not believe how good their adobo and pancit tasted, even without the meat. They use firm tofu that is shaped like meat and cooked the Filipino way. Incredible! I only wish they had a franchise here in Portland. Here is the website http://www.papillonvgcuisine.com/index.htm. They also serve meat dishes for those in the dinner party who might prefer their homba with real pork.” Speaking of our national talented artist, Ken Canedo just released a New CD – DOXOLOGY. Please see this website http://h-t.org/Doxology.htm to order. We love Ken’s music. It is always a nice treat to listen to him especially when he plays the piano at the 11:15 mass at Holy Trinity. He also shares his talent to the community when we have big events. He’ll be there for the feast of Santo Nino and greet him when you see him.

Wishing you a happy and peaceful day!