Parish Pastoral Council Hosts Christmas Dinner for Everyone Serving in the Parish
The Christmas party of CTK’s Parish Pastoral Council, held Wednesday evening, December 13, was a resounding success, as fun, laughter and good fun kept rocking the Social Hall of the Parish Formation Center. The event, organized by PPC secretary Fely was marked by song and dance performances, games, and raffles.
Nearly 300 devoted servers of Christ the King Parish – lectors & commentators, extraordinary ministers, greeters & collectors, altar servers, ministry heads and core team members, mandated organization officers and members, renewal movement officers and members, village and BEC coordinators – were in attendance. Also in attendance were CTK priests Msgr. Tony Mortillero, Fr. Serge Maniba, Fr. Ricky Montanez
Fr. Bong Tupino gave the welcome remarks, then introduced the priests and officers of the Sacred Heart Seminary of Palo, Leyte. He reminded the CTK faithful that the seminary had been completely devastated by typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and since then had been slowly rebuilt, through the kindness of the other dioceses and parishes, including Christ the King. He then asked the invited seminarians of the Sacred Heart Seminary to lead the audience in singing ‘Oh Come, Oh Ye Faithful’. After which he blessed the party food.
The performances included two songs by the Servi Domini, an award-winning choir that had been a mainstay at CTK led by choirmaster Noel de la Paz, a highly-applauded violin performance by talented youngster Nicky Maza, a volunteer of the Mustard Seed Ministry whose dad Bong Maza was a Knight of Columbus as well as EMHC. Also wellreceived
was the tap dance by the colorfully-clad Tapestry Tap Dance Group of the combined Youth and Mustard Seed Ministries. The Sacred Heart Seminarians came back for two more Christmas carols. The ?inal number was by professional singer Girl Valencia, a CTK regular who energized the crowd with her sing-along of Deck the Halls.
Last year’s hit game, Dressing Up Santa Claus, was brought back due to popular demand. And once again, it elicited significant participation – and audience reaction – as five teams – GreenMeadows, Catholic Women’s League, Ladies of Charity, Mustard Seed-Youth Ministry, and BEC Libis – used up their five minutes to dress up their Santa with the use of red crepe paper, a roll of tissue paper, tape, and a pair of scissors. Based on audience volume, the two finalists of the ‘Best Dressed Santa Claus’ were those groomed by BEC Libis and Ladies of Charity, with LOC bagging home first prize after emcee Bing del Rosario consulted with Fr. Bong and game organizers Sheryl Coronel and Maan del Rosario.
The second game, Bato Pato Pik, organized by Irene Robles, involved everyone in the hall betting his or her twenty peso bill by squaring off with the nearest person. The winner got the P20 bill of his opponent. After the first round, the 32 winners were holding on to P40 each. After the second round, the 16 survivors were each holding on to P80. Then the 3rd round saw eight quarterfinalists, each with P160. By the end of the fourth round, the four survivors each had P320. And by the time it came to the final round, involving Fr. Serge – the crowd was cheering him on, with some shouting ‘God is on your side, Fr. Serge’ – against Couples for Christ’s Cecille Salonga, each already had P640. The crowd cheered when Fr. Serge emerged victorious.
The raffle draw was also eagerly anticipated. The first draw involved 10 Purefoods fiesta ham, donated by Irene Robles, plus an electric fan by PPC Assistant Coordinator Henry and Joyce Tanedo and a mosquito trapper by PPC Coordinator Bert and Marie Anne Santos. The final draw was for the electric chopper by PPC secretary David and Fely Ong and the personal refrigerator donated by Bing and Elise del Rosario, won by Bing Cruz.
PPC Coordinator Bert Santos acknowledged all who had made the evening possible, but he did the acknowledgments early to make sure no one had left yet. Bert also pointed out that this was going to be Fr. Bong’s last Christmas party with the CTK PPC crowd since the transfers of parish priests would take effect in June of next year. Fr. Bong formally closed the evening by thanking everyone who came and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
