From the Pastor’s Desk:
Next weekend, our Parish will welcome a priest missionary from the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) who will preach to invite us to participate in the annual Missionary Cooperative Plan of the Diocese. The foundation of the MSP dates back to the year 1965, during the 400 anniversary of the official evangelization in the Philippines, which started in 1565. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (then Catholic Welfare Organization) established the foreign mission society of the Philippines as an act of gratitude for the gift of faith brought by the missionaries. The bishops assessed that the Philippine Catholic Church was already mature enough to assume the missionary work of the Catholic Church.
The Mission Society of the Philippines is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right whose members are priests assigned for mission to the nations. The MSP serves as the official and chief missionary arm of the Catholic Church of the Philippines. Since its beginning in 1965, the MSP now has been working in five continents: Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania.
The CBCP has allotted the 3rd Sunday of July as the Fil-Mission Sunday, where the whole Philippine Church and Filipinos worldwide will offer prayers, sacrifices, and material offerings for the works of the Fil-Mission. Since missionary endeavor is the responsibility of all baptized, the Missionary Cooperation Program (MCP) was established to help spread missionary awareness and support for the universal missionary effort of the Catholic Church.
The guest preacher is Fr. Eliseo Napiere, MSP, a missionary priest presently assigned as Pastor of St. James the Less Parish in Perris, California, and a member of the Presbyteral Council in the Diocese of San Bernardino. Before coming to the US in 2016, he was a missionary priest in Taiwan for 15 years and served as the Executive Secretary to the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference (CRBC). Born in Bohol, Philippines, and ordained priest in 1991 by Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Archbishop of Manila. After ordination, he was assigned as the Dean of Seminarians at Fil-Mission Seminary in Tagaytay City and eventually became a member of the MSP General Council from 1994-2000.
Their appeal will make us sharers in the missionary engagement of the Catholic Church in areas they are called to preach the Good News.
I invite you all to please be generous in the second collection next weekend, July 15-16. God bless you all.
Msgr. Willie
