Thank you, Fr. Denish

We wish Fr. Denish the best as he goes back to the Philippines on Tuesday. I'm sure he will always remember us here in Portland, knowing how thankful we are that he spent some time to work among the Filipinos, at The Grotto and as a chaplain at Providence.

Thank you, Fr. Denish.

And to all of you who have given of your time to come and share the Eucharist with us as well as the food for our potluck tonight, thank you very much. We had such an abundance of food. May God continue to bless you and your families. We thank the Servite community, especially Fr. Jack, for bringing Fr. Denish here to Portland.


God Bless!
Titay Schommer

Perpetual Help Novena & Mass

Dear Friends,

We usually have a Perpetual Help Novena at Holy Trinity Catholic Church every Tuesday night. A few days ago, it was a delight to receive a phone call and learned that we have a visiting priest in town. Father Abelardo Gabriel, SVD is from the Diocese of Chicago and he is the brother of Maryann Gaviola who is very active in our community. So this coming Tuesday, January 26th, at 7:30 PM, we will have the novena, the mass will be intergrated and Fr. Arnold will preside.

For direction to Holy Trinity kindly click this link http://h-t.org/direction.htm.

Come and join us! All are welcome.

Maraming Salamat Po!
Monette

Fr. Denish Ilogon's Dispedida & Final Mass

Come and join us this coming Sunday, January 24th at 3:00 PM at the Grotto. Fr. Denish Ilogon will celebrate his Final Mass with the Filipino Community and a potluck reception in the conference center will follow right after.

This will allow our Kababayans to thank Fr. Denish and wish him well as he returns to the Philippines after 3 years serving at the Grotto and at various Filipino events.

Filipinos help Haiti

Dear Friends,

Haiti and the Philippines share many things in common, like extreme poverty, natural disasters and more importantly our Catholic Faith, enough to call our Filipino community to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Haiti during this time of distress.

This Sunday, we have a great opportunity to do just that. All Catholic parishes have beena asked by Archbishop Vlazny to do a second collection for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. As leaders in our community, I ask you to help share this information so that as many of our Filipino brothers and sisters can be prepared to give their share (however little or however big) to this collection.

As Filipino Catholics we are being asked now to take a step and make true to our promise to love and serve God. Our solidarity with the people of Haiti is not just a humanitarian act, it is a moral response to the call for charity and justice by the Gospel we preach.

Please pass on to your networks so that this Sunday, as we pray with our parish communities during Mass, we will give with grateful hearts the generous help we can give to those who are most in need today, the people of Haiti. The Philippines have been through a lot last year and many people came to our aid, giving hope and love to our brothers and sisters in the Philippines. We can always pay it forward! All of you who are receiving this represent about 26 parishes already and several organizations in our community. Reaching your friends and families within your parishes alone will really make a difference!

God bless us all especially the people of Haiti.

Thanks in advance for your faith and the generosity flowing from it,

Pia

THANK YOU for the Santo Nino Celebration

Dear Leaders & Friends:

On behalf of the Filipino Seminarians at Mount Angel Seminary, thank you for your overflowing generosity surrounding the Santo Nino Festivities. Your warm participation and assistance in all aspects will be remembered.

To view the entire visit of Bishop Oscar Solis, you may visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/nikonomero

These photos are provided by Nikon Omero, our photographer from Salt Lake City. Visit his website at:
www.nikonomerophotography.com

Once again, many thanks to each of you.

Manolito "J.R."

Santo Nino Celebration at Mt. Angel Seminary

The Feast of Santo Nino was a grand success and the Sinulog Festival was a delight. To see some photos of the event, kindly click this link :http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=752886847805%3A850591778

Responding to Haiti's Earthquake Victims

A massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th. The damage to buildings is extensive and the number of injured or dead is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Several organization in the Portland area are putting together relief efforts to help the victims of the earthquake. Below is a list of organizations where we can give donations:

Donations for earthquake relief in Haiti

* Providence Health International - our system's international health division. Donations to Providence Health International http://www2.providence.org/phs/phi/Pages/donate-online.aspx by Providence Oregon employees will be matched by the Oregon Region.
* Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/ works closely with Caritas International.
* Mercy Corps www.mercycorps.org/haiti is an international organization based in Portland that has established a Haiti Earthquake Fund.
* Medical Teams International www.medicalteams.org/sf/home/Haiti_Earthquake is another Portland nonprofit. It provides emergency relief around the world.

There also are many other national organizations providing aid, including the American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/, as well as local organizations in Portland and other cities . Be sure to check out any organization you don't know before making a donation to be sure it is legitimate.*

Material donations are not encouraged at this time.

Portland Roe v. Wade Memorial Rally 2010

Dear Friends - please pass along this update for this weekend's LIFE events. KBVM will interview Dr. Frank Rosenbloom on Wed, Jan 13th at 8 - 9 am and ENCORE our interview with Tamra Johnson on Friday, Jan 15th at 8 - 9 am. We will also hear from Gayle Atteberry and Kate Ewald next week on Monday Jan 18th and Friday Jan 22nd about Oregon Right to Life activities in Oregon and Washington DC. For full details: www.kbvm.fm also: www.ortl.org and www.40daysforlife.com and www.preciouschildrenofportland.org

With Love, Dina Marie

***

Dear Pro-Life Friends,

Please join us this coming Sunday, January 17th, at the Portland Pioneer Courthouse Square from 2:00 – 3:00 pm as we remember the lives of the millions lost to abortion, and call upon our nation and its leaders to give children the protection they deserve.
Rally Speakers:
Archbishop John Vlazny
Cindy Brunk, Silent No More
Tamra Johnson, 40 Days For Life
Dr. Frank Rosenbloom, Oregon Right To Life
Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Aurem Cordis
Two Marches for Life will be also taking place in Portland on the 17th , and will meet up with the Rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square:

Portland's March and Rally for Life, Sunday, January 17, 2010 >> March @ 12:30, Rally @ 2:00 << There will be a March and Rally for Life on Sunday, January 17, 2010 from Broadway and MLK Jr. Blvd to Pioneer Courthouse Square in Downtown Portland. Portland Police will provide an escort for the street march on Broadway. Please meet at 12:00 pm at Broadway and MLK and the march will start at 12:30pm and end around 1:30 at Pioneer Courthouse Square for the rally which will start at 2:00pm.
Length of march is only 1.7 miles.Special Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute March on Sunday, January 17, 2010, 11:30amThere will also be a shorter one mile walk starting at 11:30am on Beech St. and MLK at the proposed Planned Parenthood abortion center (map) and this walk will join up with the downtown march at Broadway and MLK. Please start gathering at 11:00am.

Thank you! Hope to see you there.
God bless,
Christina DeGoede
(360) 269-2105

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"On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls---none have I excluded!"
--Jesus to St. Faustina

Simbang Gabi 2009- Acknowledgements

Beloved Friends and Kababayans,

Praise and Glory to God for the wonderful celebration of Simbang Gabi both in the Westside and in the Eastside of the Portand Metro Area!

We also had a chance to attend the Saturday morning of Simbang Gabi at the Nativity of the Blessed Sacrament in Reinier, Oregon. It is the new parish of Fr. Henry Rufo where he introduced the 9 days of Simbang Gabi to his parishioners. During the fellowship we met some of his non Filipino parishioners and they were so welcoming and very entertaining. We all have something in common, they also love Filipino food. Afterwards, Fr. Henry gave us a tour of his new place. He really has a nice view; it was breathtaking, overlooking the Columbia River. We truly enjoyed our visit.

It was remarkable the weather cooperated well with us this year that several of us and our families were able to complete the 9 days of the Simbang Gabi. During the culmination of the novena at Holy Trinity we saw the cheerful spirit of our kababayans, they kept coming, and Bishop Steiner was delighted. We are truly grateful for your presence and wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who participated in the liturgies, provided assistance and worked hard to make our Christmas Novena Masses “Simbang Gabi” a success. Some of the priests were impressed to see several of our youth attended and participated during the liturgies. It was a heart-warming to see the twinkle in the eyes of our children, the youth and the young adults getting excited in doing their part each night. During the liturgies there were different activities presented each night, like the offering of the Nativity symbols, and the blessing of the Tree of Hope (parishioners wrote down their wishes and hopes and hang them on the Tree of Hope). One night we had a Living Rosary led by the children and the other nights several children offered Christmas symbols and the youth explained the meaning of the symbols. We also had the youth choir sing “Silent Night” and do the sign language.

We are also grateful to the Filipino Community Choir for their joyful singing of the eight Simbang Gabi by the direction of Raquel Naval and accompanied by Derick Maglalang and Ken Canedo on the piano while the St. Clare and Pinoy IT choir did it for one night by the direction of Malou Johanson. Our gratitude goes to the different Filipino organizations that hosted each night and have shared their time, talents and treasure which has exhibited our beautiful Filipino traditions.

During the fellowships, almost every night happy surprises kept popping up like the choreographed dance of the Cebuanos “Ang Pasko ay sumapit,” the IT children sang Christmas Carols mixed in Tagalog and English. On the last day, the Holy Trinity Children also sang Christmas Carols in Tagalog, Santa Claus and the children listened to the Santa’s story and participated in gift giving. The Aguman Capampangan choir sang Christmas Medley and Victor Bonifacio rendered Christmas songs while Bishop Steiner and our kababayans were eating.

We thank you for providing delicious food while your hospitality engaged our kababayans into a deeper spiritual fellowship.

The Westside Host Groups were St. Elizabeth Seton Filipino Parishioners, Damas, Legion of Mary, Couples for Christ, Our Lady of Fatima - Block Rosary, Sto Nino de Cebu Cultural Group, Philippine Nurses Association, Pinoy IT Group, St Clare Filipino Parishioners, Holy Trinity Filipino Parishioners, and Aguman Capampangan

We would like to acknowledge the following priests from different Parishes in the Archdiocese of Portland who presided during the Simbang Gabi masses in the Westside: Our retired priests, Fr. Neil Moore, Msgr. Arthur Dernbach, and Fr. John McGrann. Fr. Tony Ong, chaplain at St. Vincent Hospital, Fr. Cary Reniva of Sacred Heart Church in Medford, Fr. Maro Escano of St. Mary’s Church in Eugene, Fr. Tom Farley of St. Clare, and Fr. Dave Gutmann of Holy Trinity. We are grateful indeed to Fr. Dave Gutmann for his loving support and for allowing us the usage of the church, and the other facilities. Special gratitude goes to Bishop Kenneth Steiner, who celebrated the culmination of the Simbang Gabi and for sharing the message of “HOPE” to the Filipinos.

In the eastside, the Simbang Gabi was held at St. Therese at 7:30pm. The El Shaddai Ministry by the directions of Dondon and Yvette Gayomali sang joyfully for the 9 consecutive nights. The Servite Filipino Priest at the Grotto, Fr. Denish Ilogon presided the 8 nights while Fr. Tony Ong celebrated the last novena mass. Fr. Fred Biong from the Grotto and Fr. Roger of St. Therese were able to concelebrate. Sponsorships from surrounding parishes are Christ the King, St. Henry, Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Anne. During the culmination of the Simbang Gabi, the children excitedly carried their parols during the procession led by Ferdie and Adela Sacdalan. The potluck reception was held after the novena mass and Christmas carols were sang afterwards. The organizers of the Eastside Simbang Gabi at St. Therese led by Titay Schommer did a marvelous job.

We truly appreciate your generosity. The offertory collections from the westside and the eastside, we were able to raise funds to build houses for the poor families in the Philippines through the Gawad Kalinga Foundation. The celebrations of our preparations for the coming of our Saviour was more meaningful since this cause will bring hope to our least fortunate brothers and sisters in Christ back home.

After Christmas, the Salem Filipino Community organized the Holy Family mass at St. Vincent the Paul Church. It was also a well attended event.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebrations with your loved ones. We hope the New Year will bring peace, love and happiness to everyone. May God continue to bless us and our families abundantly. We encourage everyone to keep our faith ALIVE and participate in the parish life to serve and share Jesus Christ in the manger who is full of humility and love.

God bless and God loves you!
Maraming Salamat Po Sa Inyong Lahat!
Franz & Monette Mallari