Interview with Youth Ministry Head Couple Louie and Lei Abando

The CTK Parish Youth Ministry is celebrating the Year of the Youth in 2019, which is being launched by the CBCP. In celebration of the Year of the Youth, CTK’s Youth Ministry, headed by Louie and Lei Abando, has planned several key activities for 2019.

The Herald had a chance to interview the Abandos in December 2018 about their 2019 youth ministry plans and projects. First, some background about the power couple. Louie and Lei got married in 2003, and in Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows itself. Louie was 24 and Lei a young 21. Now they’re 40 and 37, respectively. They had both been working at Citibank. As Lei told it, on a Saturday, Louie saw her in the elevator and discreetly noted which floor Lei had pressed. Lucky for him, he knew someone in Lei’s floor and pretended to visit that person the following week. ‘The rest was history,’ said Lei. In their 16 years together, they’ve been blessed with two boys – Joshua Jyle who’s now 15 and Gabriel Luwie who turned 11. Both children are currently studying at San Beda College, in Taytay, Rizal, which makes sense since the Abandos live in Cainta, Rizal. Though the Abandos have left Citi, they’re still in the banking sector, with Louie a BDO Collections Manager under Credit & Collections while Lei is branch manager at Security Bank’s Fort W City branch.

Q: How did you get involved with CTK?
A: We were invited by my brother, Regie Polancos, and sister in-law, Joanne Polancos, to serve in the Parish. Louie signed up as EMHC and Lei as Lecom.

Q: Was that your first time to be in Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows?
A: No. When we started serving in the parish, we were already active members of the Diwanihan Kristiyano Prayer Group, one of the 27 groups under Pag-ibig Sa Diyos Catholic Community, and we held our weekly prayer meetings at the Divine Mercy Chapel.

Q: When Fr. Bong tapped the two of you for Youth Ministry, what was your initial reaction?
A: Honestly, we didn’t want to take the position but we can’t say no to Fr. Bong. We felt it was too much for us to handle given the following reasons: 1st, we’re already part of the Core group of Diwanihan Prayer Group; 2nd, we are already serving in the Parish as EMHC and LeCom; 3rd, we were new in our respective jobs at that time and sJll adjusting with the work load; 4th, Lei was also doing events at that time, organizing weddings, birthdays and the like; and 5th, not being parishioners might be an issue for some.

Q: How do you view your assignment now?
A: It’s very challenging but when we do it right, we get a strong sense of fulfilment.

Q: Regarding the CTK celebration of World Youth Day on Jan 26 and 27, do you plan to repeat the CTK program of July 30-31, 2016 when Regie and Joanne Polancos were in charge then?
A: Yes. Most likely, the program would be the same, with minimal changes on some games and ice breaker activities. We plan to also live-stream the Pope’s prayer vigil. We already invited Bukas Palad Ministry to do the worship concert. Hopefully, they’ll be available on that weekend. We’ll also do the midnight Living Rosary.

Q: In 2016, there were 197 youth who attended. They came from the villages, Libis, St. Paul, plus the other parishes of the vicariate. How do you make sure you can get similar-sized attendance?
A: We are already in coordination with the different Vicariate representatives and been inviting youth members from Libis and St. Paul and other schools. We have also made an announcement to our youth members as early as November to block off the date. We will start posting on social media acer Christmas.

Q: When do you plan to schedule the PREX Youth weekend? Who do you plan to involve in the planning and organization?
A: PREX Youth Weekend is scheduled April or May and will be headed by Ernest Quizon & Marian Macapantan. They usually assign a core group per year who will do the planning and organization. Hopefully, we get to invite 10-15 youth members to push thru with the weekend.

Q: You’re planning Youth Camps in April and November 2019. What will these look like?
A: Ignite Hope Youth Camp and Retreat is a 3-day retreat based on the Life in the Spirit seminar. It aims to reawaken Catholic faith in young men and women ages 13-21 and inspire them to respond to God’s call to know, love and serve Him. This activity is sponsored by the Timothy Youth Ministry under the Living Hope Catholic Charismatic Community and the CTK Parish Youth Ministry, where the youth and adults of both communities work behind the scenes to prepare for a meaningful weekend for the participants. We now look forward to our 15th camp in April 2019 and on an average find 25 young people answering His call each time. We continue to pray that the Youth Camp will continue to inspire the youth to choose Him above the temptations and alternatives, now more than ever, easily and readily available to this generation.

Q: You also have a Parish Youth Day planned. What will that be about?
A: Parish Youth Day is scheduled for August. The initial plan is to have a full-day event starting with a talk then praise & worship followed by games, battle of the bands, and performances from youth groups. We will also set up food and game booths mimicking a mini school fair. We intend it to be a day of fun and camaraderie of members amongst youth organizations under CTK. Target attendance is at 100 youth. We will give the final program soon.

Q: I noted that you plan to link up with Timothy Youth Ministry of Living Hope Prayer Community in their every-Saturday Youth Prayer Meetings. Timothy already has a decent-sized group of 20 to 30 from St. Paul etc. coming over. Ditto for the August 11 Day of Sacraments. How do you plan to draw the Libis youth and the village youth to join? What’s your target regular attendance outside of Timothy members?
A: Ever since, our challenge is consistency on programs like the regular prayer meetings. It’s hard to get a speaker if we don’t have confirmed attendees which is always the case. That’s why the idea of joining Timothy’s regular prayer meetings and exploring a long-term partnering came to mind. The only thing we need to focus on is inviting and promoting the said activity.

Q: Will CTK continue to send delegates to the vicariate-sponsored youth activities, e.g., sports league, planning, etc. Will there be a regular team who will go to attend on behalf of CTK Youth?
A: We have not yet discussed about forming a team for vicariate activities. But we have Althea to represent CTK in all the meetings. When there are scheduled activities such as sports league or planning, the core team and some of the Libis members participate.

Rollie started his talk with a quote from Pope Benedict XVI: ‘Look at the face of the other – discover that he has a soul, a history and a life. That he is a person and that God loves the person.’

Any discussion on theology, according to Rollie, starts with Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Man’, one of the panels on the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. It illustrated Genesis 1:27, ‘God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him.’ He then went on to enumerate six lessons:

1. Each person is composed of body and spirit. Without spirit, you have a corpse. Without a body, you have a ghost.
2. Body and spirit are intertwined. What you do with the body, you do to the spirit. For example, a parent lays a hand

Q: Will you continue to team up with Family & Life and Mustard Seed to collaborate on the Kingdom of Heaven Fair, Easter Sunday Egg Hunt, etc.
A: That is correct. For 2019 , we will be taking over the planning on Easter Egg Hunt as it has been previously handled by Days with the Lord.

Q: A problem that has always bedeviled CTK is how to draw greater participation from the villages. We seem to get a lot of participation from Libis because of the youth leaders in place but no similar enthusiasm exists in the villages. How do we change the situation?
A: What we have planned to do next year is to come up with consistent activities for the youth. We feel that if we have regular prayer meetings in place and fun and interactive activities, youth from the villages will be more enticed to join and invite their friends. We want to show the village youth through our activities that they can still be cool and have fun while serving the Lord.