CTK Hosts Fiesta Eve Fellowship Dinner
Nearly 300 Parish Pastoral Council members and involved parishioners helped celebrate the Feast of Christ the King with a Parish Fiesta Fellowship celebration dinner following the ninth novena mass last November 24 for all Parish Pastoral Council members, Eucharistic ministers, lectors- commentators, greeter-collectors, parish staff, village coordinators, and other involved parishioners. Worship Ministry head Leila Banico as overall organizer for the event saw to it that all parts of the program went on smoothly.
The celebration, with the theme – ‘Concluding the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons: Renewed Servant Leaders, Renewed Community’, formally opened with welcome remarks from the PPC Lay Coordinator couple Bert and Marie Anne Santos. This was followed by the Opening Prayer led by CTK resident guest priest Fr. Jojo Gatdula.
After dinner, emcee Bing del Rosario introduced the special audio-visual presentation, a tribute to all the past CTK parish priests. The AVP was scripted by Leila Banico, animated by new LeCom Lupo Basilio, with photos provided by Brother Mark Puruganan and Bing del Rosario. The video started with the 1979 creation of the new parish out of the original territory that used to belong to Our Lady of Miraculous Medal, Project 4, with Fr. Victorio Lanuevo as CTK’s first parish priest. In 1982, Msgr. Antonio Tobias took over, followed a year and a half later by Msgr. Jaime Mora. The church was completed in June 1988 and consecrated by Jaime Cardinal Sin on October 30, 1988, now celebrated as the Feast of the Dedication of Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows. It was during Msgr. Mora’s term that the Parish Formation Center, crypts, Perpetual Adoration Chapel, and mortuary chapels were also put up. In 2003, the diocese of Cubao was established with Honesto Ongtioco designated as its first bishop. In 2004, Msgr. Mora retired, with Bishop Ongtioco temporarily taking over as acting parish priest as he reorganized the parish assignments. It was during Bishop Ongtioco’s brief term that the Stewardship as a Way of Life program was started. Installed as the fifth parish priest in 2006, Msgr. Dan Santa Maria introduced additional infrastructure – parking, weekend market, church extensions, baptistery, St. Therese garden. The final segment of the AVP was on Fr. Bong Tupino, installed in 2012.
There were video testimonials throughout the AVP – Linda Famador on Fr. Lanuevo, Ben Famador on Msgr. Tobias, Armine Tagaysay, Dolly Borlongan and Amer de Guzman on Msgr. Mora, Fe Pery and Virgie Cheng on Bishop Ongtioco, Mila Bangco, Louie Laudico and Lulay dela Cruz on Msgr. Sta. Maria, and David and Fely Ong, Bert and Maries Anne Santos, and Henry and Joyce Tañedo on Fr. Tupino.
The AVP was paused as well at three different points to allow for entertainment numbers related to the parish priests. A song medley from Doy and Estrelle Lopez and family, the Libis BEC leaders for a dance number, and a song medley from Isa and Ralf Colet.
At the end of the AVP, the emcee introduced Fr. Steve Zabala as the seventh parish priest of Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows. He gave a heartwarming and humble message.
” Good evening and thanks to all of you here tonight who selflessly serve the parish and who have dedicated their time, talent and treasure in support of the parish and the diocese. And thank you for making me feel very welcome. As I keep telling the Parish Pastoral Council, I’m still intimidated by the servant leaders of Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows – the institutions you have formed, the processes and procedures you have put in place, the organizations and ministries and how they work effectively together, the size of weekend and stewardship cash offerings, the various laudable practices that you’ve set in motion that would be the envy of the other parishes in the diocese. I’m in awe of your spirit of service and how very li]le of politics, personal agenda, and conflicts manifest themselves in the way you do God’s business in the parish.
I have told the bishop many times – there is very little for me to do here. The parish almost runs by itself, things get done, plans get executed, personal issues do not derail progress. The infrastructure is very near where it should be, our facilities and services are in high demand. But one important point should not be forgo]en – that all of where we are now, the quality of our office staff, the quality of our parish pastoral council, the exceptional support and teamwork by the various ministries, liturgical groups, and mandated organizations and renewal movements which support our social and developmental services, the high quality of our infrastructure and facilities – they were all the result of thirty five years of dedicated work by the parish priests who have come before me.
I recognize the early start-up efforts of Fr. Victorio Lanuevo and Bishop Antonio Tobias. They were saying mass in White Plains, all the while that they were planning to build a new church along Greenmeadows Avenue. Much of the credit though goes to Msgr. Jaime Mora. His two decades as parish priest of CTK Greenmeadows and his systematic execution of a grand vision for the organization of the ministries and the physical infrastructure in those 20 years created the backbone on which nearly everything we see and do now have been built upon.
Even the short stint by Bishop Ongtioco enabled the parish to pause and reflect and arrive at another audacious goal – to be truly a stewardship parish, with members, parishioners and servant leaders who would be men for others, giving much of their time, talent, and treasure in the service of Jesus’ mission. On top of those strong foundations, we had six years of Msgr. Dan Sta Maria, who created a strong culture of transparency. This was followed by six years of Fr. Bong Tupino who instituted process excellence and emphasized liturgical celebrations. During their terms, both Msgr. Dan and Fr. Bong reinforced the values of servant leadership, strengthened the parish organizations and how the various groups work together, and got back to the basics of formation, fellowship, evangelization, and being a real church for the poor.
And now it’s my turn. I stand on the shoulders of the parish priests who have come before me. I am so blessed and lucky that Fr. Lanuevo, Bishop Tobias, Bishop Ongtioco, Msgr. Sta Maria and Fr. Tupino have paved the way. I can only wish and pray that I will leave CTK, in 2024, an even be]er parish than when I arrived in July 2018.”
Fr. Steve then called on his fellow priests – Fr. Louie Caupayan, Fr. Choi Garcia, Fr. Dodot Torres, Fr. Jojo Simon, Fr. Gelo Parlan, Fr. Herbie Santos, Fr. Jojo Gatdula, and Fr. Fred Narvasa – to sing ‘Pananagutan’. Later at the end of the evening, the group again sang the ‘Princesa’ Medley, followed by the ‘Give Thanks’ Medley, and ended with ‘Yo Pare Ko’, a Fr. Steve original composition about young people considering the priesthood. In between, Fr. Steve asked a few of the performing priests to talk about their vocation and the circumstances that led to the call to the priesthood.
