Casa Setenta: The Next Mission
Casa Setenta
It is CTK’s campaign to raise 70 million in 7 months, through 7 ways of giving, tapping 700 donors, from December 7, 2019 to July 12, 2020.
7 Ways to Give
Donors can choose to donate any of these 7 amounts.
– 10 donors of 1.5M* each = 15M
– 20 donors of 750K = 15M
– 30 donors of 500K = 15M
– 60 donors of 250K= 15M
– 80 donors of 100K = 8M
– 100 donors of 10K= 1M
– 400 donors of 2.5K = 1M
– 700 donors, 7 ways, 70M in 7 months!
*Room Sponsors
*Donors of 1.5M are room sponsors. They will have ‘naming privileges’, where the diocese expresses its gratitude and intention to pray for the donor, or his family, or to dearly departed ones, by placing a marker in honor of the room sponsor or the donor’s nominee, near the door. The marker will read (as an example), ‘We remember in our prayers Mr. and Mrs. Juan and Juana de la Cruz’. There will be enough space in the marker for a maximum of four names.
7 Months to Complete
Casa Setenta hopes to raise its target in 7 months, by July 12, 2020. A substantial amount is needed to sustain the ongoing construction of Casa de Silencio.
Casa Setenta: At A Glance
The Project: A Clergy Retirement House and Renewal Center, Diocese of Cubao
The Mission: To partially finance the construction of Casa de Silencio
The Target: Php 70M
The Time Frame: Seven (7) months from December 7, 2019 to July 12, 2020
The Strategy: Raise Php 70M in 7 months through 7 ways of giving tapping
700 donors
In Kind
Those who want to donate in kind are welcome—like sponsoring construction materials, e.g., steel, cement, tiles, bathroom fixtures, roof, etc. These will however be in close coordination and approval with the project’s construction team.
Donate or Solicit
You can be a donor by donating any of the amounts listed. You can of course donate any amount you can afford which is not listed above. You can also be a solicitor by asking donations from friends and relatives, or getting your family, clan, class, group of friends, neighbors, organizations, or company to contribute to raise any of the amounts listed above.
Cubao Clergy
The Diocese of Cubao is one of the largest in the country, with a total Catholic population of nearly 1.2 million. At present, the diocese has 47 incardinated priests and at least 50 guest priests and religious helping in the daily operation of its 47 parishes. The average age of the clergy is 53. The retirement age for priests is 75 years old. As of November 2019, there are four retired priests. In 15 years, eight more will retire; and in 20 years, 62% of the clergy or 28 priests will retire.
Why a Retirement House?
Perhaps a priest baptized your infant daughter, or administered your son’s first Holy Communion. Perhaps he witnessed your marriage vows as you celebrated the Sacrament of Matrimony, or presided at the funeral Mass of a loved one called home by the Lord. Perhaps he heard one or more of your confessions or you turned to him for counselling at a time of great stress in your life. Or simply, he celebrated countless masses that you attended as a parishioner.
But as priests hit retirement age, the ensuing years can be difficult. Priests have no children to look after them in their old age. Some go back to their own families but even that is no assurance that they will be cared for. They don’t own houses as they have lived in parishes or religious homes during their active ministry. Even parish rectories would be inadequate for the needs of elderly, ill and retired priests.
Casa de Silencio
In 2009, Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows raised funds to build the Gawad Kalinga Village in Zabarte Novaliches for residents of Sitio 1, Libis whose houses were demolished when the Katipunan flyover was constructed. The success of this project was the inspiration for another housing project, Pabahay ng Diocese, which provided homes in St. John Paul II Village, Antipolo City, this time for workers and staff of the Diocese and its parishes.
This year, 2019, the Diocese of Cubao has embarked on yet another building project, Casa de Silencio – a retirement home for its elderly and sick priests. It is also envisioned to be a diocesan renewal center for spiritual retreats, conferences, meetings and formation activities for both lay and clergy. It can address the venue needs of congregations, schools, church groups and parishes. Revenues from the renewal center can help defray Casa’s future operating costs.
Casa de Silencio will have 18 rooms for retired priests, a nurse’s station and an 8-bed medical ward. It will also have 50 rooms for retreatants in a four-storey residential building. The property will also have provisions for one big conference room and two other smaller meeting rooms. A sprawling garden, with a chapel in it, will provide the appropriate ambience for prayer and contemplation. The property is located on a 3,000 square meter area at Silencio street, right behind the Most Holy Redeemer Parish near Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.
Estimated Project Cost
Based on the recent redesign, construction cost was agreed with the contractor at P260M, unfurnished. To- date, the diocese has gathered funds for the project totalling P57M, from what it could set aside from the diocese treasury specifically for this purpose, plus donations initially solicited by the various parishes when the Casa de Silencio was first announced in early However, the contractor has required a 20% down payment that the diocese had recently paid, so only P3M is left, with a regular quarterly payment schedule based on completion percentage that needs to be managed. The diocese also recently sold off property it owned, amounting to P20M, that will be used to pay off the first part of the P196M that will still be due to the contractor.
Factoring in the sale of land asset, the diocese is still short by P175M, without even considering the cost of furnishings – beds, chairs, conference desks, sofa sets, lighting, appliances, etc. – that will easily push up the total cost.
Bishop Honesto Ongtioco is appealing for the support of the parishes and kind donors. CTK commits to raise Php 70M for this project. How shall CTK raise the Php 70M?
