Santiago de Compostela Church. Lake Forest, CA
FFRGOC held the 2022 Annual Lenten Retreat at the beautiful Santiago de Compostela Church, Lake Forest, Ca last March 19, 2022 from 8:30Am to 2:30pm with Rev. Paul Vu as the Spiritual Retreat Master.
Attendees embraced the day with enthusiasm driving to this beautiful church with a rising sun casting beautiful hues of color on the sky as shown below. What a beautiful day to spend time and make it a fun day with good people and have positive vibes from our retreat master to live better and be of service to Jesus through Mary!
Taken at 405 Freeway going to Santiago Compostela Church
Our go-getter and innovative current FFRGOC President Helen Alonso had a review of the event in one of our board meetings and everyone agreed that the event went very well including improverments to our near perfect event with the support of a cohesive team performance. Our President could not join us on the actual day but a great leader who monitored and followed through from her home office that produced great results.
Success does not come easy and requires good planning and execution. From our members, activities and chapter directors, board of directors officers to our Spiritual Director, FFRGOC is united to serve the community at its best but also human and can commit errors.
Nenita Miyata, Public Relations Officer captured the moments on this event which unfortunately I cannot load all the pictures (one USB drive) in this website much as I want to.
One thing noticeable with FFRGOC members no matter what their position is on the organization, each of us serves God with humility as a servant leader. These pictures captured this wonderful trait ... as servant leader.
The Preparation:
Dean Miyata ( supportive husband of Nenita, Public Relations Officer ) and Lorraine Betts, Director of Youth working on the set up of tables and chairs in the dining hall
Volunteers including Mary Ann Puzon, Director of Social Services working on seat arrangement for almost 250 attendees where the Retreat Master, Rev. Paul Vu inspired us.
Pictures shown below give you the finished results of hard work and also the volunteers in action:
Finished Dining Area for all attendees
Retreat Room where attendees had the pleasure to hear Rev. Paul Vu's good thoughts shared for Lent and to practice in our daily lives.
Volunteers - Wally Claudio, Director of Charity, Beth Ynson, South Area 2 Secretary, Mary Ann Puzon, Director of Social Services, Chat and Marlon Agbayani, Directors of Special Projects, Glenn Puzon, Second VP and all the other hard working volunteers (manual labor and all) plus other volunteers (not in this picture) who contributed to make this event a success.
The Registration:
Our volunteers, Fiza Du, South Chapter Area 2 Past Chairperson and currently Area Advisor, Mary Ann Puzon, Director of Social Services, Cora Narciso, South Area1 Chairperson who registered attendees (RSVP and walk-ins) to follow Covid19 guidelines and as a point of reference plus gave out breakfast/lunch tickets.
Our volunteer accepting the retreat nominal fee in cash from an attendee who RSVP on our website and real happy to be able to pay on site due to hectic work schedule. That's FFRGOC serving the community!
Larry and Shirley Cachuela, FFRGOC members were ready to get their light breakfast bags complete with worship aids which also included the schedule for the day.
The Retreat Sessions:
Walter Bayubay, Director of Religious Enrichment who is a great spokesperson, was in the process of telling everyone that we will pray first the rosary.
Later he introduced who is our Retreat Master, Rev. Paul Vu.
Excerpts of Rev. Paul Vu's background:
A Catholic Priest from the Diocese of Orange who grew up in Garden Grove, CA;
Studied Philosophy, Religion and Literature at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon;
Studied Theology in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University while continuing his formation to the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College;
Ordained in the priesthood in 2012 and earned his licentiate of Canon Law;
Served in different parishes in the Diocese Orange.
His hobbies include cooking, teaching and participating in many outdoor activities. He also likes to travel and became a favorite of pilgrims on numerous pilgrimage tours.
Using his God-given talents, he created his own YouTube channels in English and Vietnamese where you can find practical reflections on learning, living and sharing the message of Christ with others. To date, he has 300 videos with more than 700k views and nearly 9k subscribers. And that is impressive!
With the above excerpts from his background, Rev. Paul Vu definitely shared his insights and thoughts to attendees during the Lent retreat as captured on the photos below.
Rev. Paul Vu started the retreat getting the attention of the attendees
Attendees (250 more or less) were all focused to what Rev. Paul Vu was saying
More Attendees who were attentive to Rev. Paul Vu's talk
Rev. Paul Vu engaging the crowd to listen and using body language as a speaker
Rev. Paul Vu answered a good question from Irene Alzate, FFRGLA Director from 1991- 1992
Rev. Paul Vu proved to be an effective speaker making one of the attendees, Fortune Sagra, FFRGOC South Chapter Area 4 Chairperson share his own life experience.
Walter Bayubay, Director of Religious Enrichment ended the morning lenten sessions and invited everyone to have lunch.
The Lunch:
After a good information overload, everyone is hungry and ready for a break and enjoy a yummy lunch shown above.
Sol Sollorano, FFRGOC Auditor with friends and her husband Rene enjoying the company and food.
Glenn Puzon, Second VP with his friends enjoying lunch and their company.
Cora Narciso, South Area 1 Chairperson enjoying lunch and the company of friends
Husband and wife team - Evelyn, Chapter Director Northeast and Ely Ruiz, Seminarian Program Director with Retreat Master Rev. Vu and friends ready to have lunch.
What better way to have an outdoor lunch, which we also did, and enjoy the sun and company of people you love - Dina Tennant, FFRGOC active supporter and Ely Gonzales, supportive husband of our previous president Debbie Gonzales with friends.
Nenita Miyata, Public Relations Officer with San Jose Filipino Ministry Group guests
Love this picture that shows the love and respect with one another as epitomized by FFRGOC community - Fely Claudio, First VP and Chat Agbayani, Special Projects Director
The wheels that made the bus in motion - Walter Bayubay, Director of Religious Enrichment with family, Debbie Gonzales, past president who continues to guide FFRGOC and Sol Sollarono, Auditor with Rev. Paul Vu, Retreat Master and friends
Behind the scene clean up after the retreat and lunch:
Everyone should admire this picture - Lorraine Betts, Director of Youth was busy cleaning the floor of the dining hall together with her family. Wow !
Unsung (heroes) volunteers who were part of the cleanup!
Who thinks I am old ? I can still do this. Another unsung hero, Ed Hortinela, an active FFRGOC member and suppporter who turned 95 years old last May 8, 2022 folded the chairs from the retreat room. Thank you so much from FFRGOC.
The Liturgy Participants:
What is essential in good planning is identifying people and their roles in the event. FFRGOC expresses gratitude to all the above for such good liturgy participants.
The Holy Mass:
Rev. Paul Vu, Retreat Master and Rev. Father Juan Caboboy, FFRGOC Spiritual Director approached the altar while Glenn Puzon, FFRGOC Second Vice President lighted the candles in preparation for the Holy Mass.
Rev. Paul Vu was making the attendees who were coming in from the retreat room ready for the Holy Mass inside the church.
FFRGOC Choir is getting ready for the Holy Mass and more attendees are now inside the church after the recitation of the Stations of the Cross.
FFRGC Choir in action under the direction of Larry Orque, Jr. Musical Director who rendered such beautiful songs during the Holy Mass.
The most beautiful part of the Holy Mass - The Consecration where Bread becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. Rev. Paul Vu and Father Juan Caboboy were the celebrant and cocelebrant
Communion where the faithful community partake the Body and Blood of Christ
Vita Valentin , Asst. Secretary was one of many to receive Holy Communion
Holy Mass ended and Father Caboboy and Rev. Paul Vu happily talking to the attendees
Going Home:
Time to go home with the lineup of cars behind this happy attendee ! (No license number shown for privacy lol)
FFRGOC appreciates all the participation and attendance and volunteer work to make our community event successful. Please participate again in our next event and thanks for reading the blog.
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