kabalaka 3
Last week, support for the Kabalaka Project came in trickles, though they are very encouraging trickles nevertheless. We did our best to explain the program during the Aguinaldo Masses and the Misa sa Gab-i or the Mass of Waiting and some people did come forward and showed a lively excitement for the program. A birthday celebrant called her friends inviting them for a party and told them that in lieu of gifts she would accept donations for the Kabalaka Project. A young lady with a kid came, who wanted to remain anonymous even to me, brought with her 3 big alkansiyas full of coins for the project. The young people of our parish made pastries and sold them to mass goers in the Cathedral and in the barangay chapels of San Vicente and Bakhaw and people bought them (in most days, they ran out of stock) knowing that the proceeds will go to the Kabalaka Project. Young boys would go around after mass bringing with them plastic bottles with the Kabalaka Logo on them and people would drop whatever coins they have in their wallets and pockets. A parishioner brought her collection of five centavo coins and gave it to one of these young boys. The Jaro Elementary School II also asked for the Kabalaka bottles. And so did Barangay Tabuc Suba Ilaya. The Legion of Mary also volunteered to bring the spirit and the bottles to their barangays with a bottle per presidium. The spirit of Kabalaka, the spirit of concern is catching fire!
The young lady and the kid also inspired us to decide on making a go on the Alkansiya sang Pamilya Para sa Kabalaka. Every family in the parish would have an alkansiya (courtesy of the parish) where the members may drop loose coins for our Kabalaka Project. It is our hope that parents would teach their children the what and why of the project, so that in their own little way the family, especially the children starting in their early years would develop a lively concern for their fellow parishioners in need. We would launch the Alkansiya sang Pamilya during the Christmas Recollection of all Liturgical Ministers on December 29.
We are not asking much. We are content and happy with the “crumbs that fall from the master’s tables.” This is after all the effort of every parishioner and therefore everyone must be given the opportunity to participate, rich and poor, adults and children, for with the coins we are asking, no one is so poor that he or she has nothing to give. This is our common response to love. We could have asked for funding in the archdiocesan level or even in the national and international level. But we opt to keep it local and make do with what we have. And by the looks of it, what we have is enough.
Let it be known also that the parish decided that ten percent of the colecta you gave during the Aguinaldo Masses and in the Misa sa Gab-i will be given to the project. And so also the would-be budget of about thirty to forty thousand pesos for this year’s agape. I always believe that the money you donate to the church is money not just for the upkeep of the church and its pastoral needs. And surely it is not just for the priests’ keeping to acquire for themselves the luxuries in life. (This is the reason why when Bishop Gerry took over, the first thing he did to balance our budget was to trim down the remuneration of us priests so that he could jack up the salaries of our workers and hire permanent catechists with a just wage.) The colecta must find its way back to the flock. Thus for two years now, having been started by Msgr. Nonoy, ten percent of the Sunday Colecta is segregated weekly for the Social Action programs of our Parish. This fund has sent scholars to college, it has fed malnourished children and nursed them back to normal weight, it has bought medicines for the sick, it has regularly funded our medical and dental missions, with the Bag-o nga Panugod Fund it has helped people repair homes after the flood. When I enter the judgement seat of God I can clearly say that the colecta of the cathedral under our term was used accordingly to the design set forth by St. Paul in his letters. As priests here in the cathedral we might have been neglectful in a lot of things pertaining to our responsibilities, but if there is one thing we took so seriously, these were the resources you gave us not as owners but as stewards. I believe this is one of the charisms every priest must have – he is the chief steward of God’s many gifts.
This time the Kabalaka Project is another fund which will make a more meaningful and hopefully a more lasting impact in the lives of our poor brothers and sisters. And not only that, it is a communal response, our common response to love. More than helping the poor, what makes this program worthwhile is the participation of every parishioner, rich and poor, young and old.
The young lady and the kid also inspired us to decide on making a go on the Alkansiya sang Pamilya Para sa Kabalaka. Every family in the parish would have an alkansiya (courtesy of the parish) where the members may drop loose coins for our Kabalaka Project. It is our hope that parents would teach their children the what and why of the project, so that in their own little way the family, especially the children starting in their early years would develop a lively concern for their fellow parishioners in need. We would launch the Alkansiya sang Pamilya during the Christmas Recollection of all Liturgical Ministers on December 29.
We are not asking much. We are content and happy with the “crumbs that fall from the master’s tables.” This is after all the effort of every parishioner and therefore everyone must be given the opportunity to participate, rich and poor, adults and children, for with the coins we are asking, no one is so poor that he or she has nothing to give. This is our common response to love. We could have asked for funding in the archdiocesan level or even in the national and international level. But we opt to keep it local and make do with what we have. And by the looks of it, what we have is enough.
Let it be known also that the parish decided that ten percent of the colecta you gave during the Aguinaldo Masses and in the Misa sa Gab-i will be given to the project. And so also the would-be budget of about thirty to forty thousand pesos for this year’s agape. I always believe that the money you donate to the church is money not just for the upkeep of the church and its pastoral needs. And surely it is not just for the priests’ keeping to acquire for themselves the luxuries in life. (This is the reason why when Bishop Gerry took over, the first thing he did to balance our budget was to trim down the remuneration of us priests so that he could jack up the salaries of our workers and hire permanent catechists with a just wage.) The colecta must find its way back to the flock. Thus for two years now, having been started by Msgr. Nonoy, ten percent of the Sunday Colecta is segregated weekly for the Social Action programs of our Parish. This fund has sent scholars to college, it has fed malnourished children and nursed them back to normal weight, it has bought medicines for the sick, it has regularly funded our medical and dental missions, with the Bag-o nga Panugod Fund it has helped people repair homes after the flood. When I enter the judgement seat of God I can clearly say that the colecta of the cathedral under our term was used accordingly to the design set forth by St. Paul in his letters. As priests here in the cathedral we might have been neglectful in a lot of things pertaining to our responsibilities, but if there is one thing we took so seriously, these were the resources you gave us not as owners but as stewards. I believe this is one of the charisms every priest must have – he is the chief steward of God’s many gifts.
This time the Kabalaka Project is another fund which will make a more meaningful and hopefully a more lasting impact in the lives of our poor brothers and sisters. And not only that, it is a communal response, our common response to love. More than helping the poor, what makes this program worthwhile is the participation of every parishioner, rich and poor, young and old.
Comments