Parish Pastoral Council Tries ‘Coffee After Church’
Every Sunday after the 9 am mass at Christ the King Parish Church since March 5, parishioners have been greeted and treated with coffee and snacks in the front garden lawn.
The ‘Coffee After Church’ Program, a brainchild of Parish Pastoral Council secretary couple David and Fely Ong, continues to be supported by different parishioners and groups. The Iirst time it was held, March 5, the treats were courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts. Last March 12, pizza slices were courtesy of Greenwich pizza chain’s General Manager Albert Cuadrante, current head of the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, or EMHCs. The next week brought Red Ribbon. The most recent one last Palm Sunday, April 9, was courtesy of French Baker’s Johnlu Koa, a pari shioner. In addi t i o n , other parishioners had been bringing biscuits, crackers, turon, and other snacks, aside from the coffee and juices provided by the snack sponsor or the Ongs. The large tent was donated by CTK regulars’ husband and wife team of Abet and Pinky Antonio.
More recently, Fely and David put up a white board under the tent for posting of weekly activities, to show churchgoers how active the parish is. They will also give out forms in the coming Sundays for churchgoers who might be interested in joining any of the various ministries and mandated organizations.
The PPC ofIicers have urged the PPC members to sign up as volunteers for the coming Sundays, and the PPC members have responded enthusiastically. PPC regulars have included, aside from David and Fely Ong and Bert and Marie Anne Santos, Amelia Alba, Sheryl Coronel, Irene Robles, Paul Uy, Reggie Nolido, Loung Cuartero, Girlie Alampay, Maan del Rosario, Wins Mirasol, Ben and Linda Famador, Jeanette Cagurangan, Anna Lagman, Tiny Perfecto, Dulce Barretto, Eileen de Leon, and several others.
The primary objectives of the ‘Coffee After Church’ are – for PPC members to get to know parishioners and and get them engaged; introduce the Parish Pastoral Council members to the 9 am mass parishioners; allow parishioners to get to know the other parishioners; and for PPC members to share past and upcoming parish activities, convince them to join a mandated organization or ministry, and encourage parishioners to give ideas, comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Fely and David had also suggested that after each CAC session, PPC members who attended should do a post-mortem to review – who they met and talked to, parishioners’ interests and concerns expressed during the chats, and who seemed open to joining the ministries or organizations.
The CAC experiment will run for the entire second quarter after which the results and outcomes will be evaluated at one of the monthly PPC meetings to determine if the program should be extended, modiIied, or discontinued.
