As a Catholic, the Filipino community is honored to be part of a very special event which is the ordination of the priests i.e. one is a Filipino- American, Cole Buzon and the other priest is an American, Gregory Walgenbach.
As a background, the Philippines is composed of different islands and is inhabited by mostly people practicing as Catholics , other Christian denominations and the Muslim religion.
Therefore, this event is very important to the Filipino community here in Orange County especially to FFRGOC to be part of this two hour service ordaining a Filipino priest and proud and honored to participate with the Diocese of Orange especially considering the shortage of priests.
The venue where the ordination was held was no less but the the iconic architectural building by the famous American Architect Philip Johnson https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-Johnson famous for his glass buildings and this building used to be called Crystal Cathedral and now Christ Cathedral and also an education spot for architects/interior designers like me.
Inside the beautiful Christ Cathedral showing the organ and more than 10,000 glass panels slanted considering the elements like sun and wind for everyone's comfort.
Please click below for more pictures and description and will attract anyone especially architects and designers to see first hand.
The ordination was solemn yet punctuated by the Christ Cathedral Music Ministry comprised of selected members from thirty (30) different parishes of the Diocese of Orange and sang several songs during the event.
Here are some pictures that showed important aspects of the ordination before and after ordination:
Invitation to the event
Event Handouts distributed during the event for everyone to participate
Before the event picture with FFRGOC President Helen Alonso , Choir member and Area officer, Cora Narciso, the Hortinelas and myself
Father Cole's family members before the ordination
Our FFRGOC President Helen Alonso with Mary Ann Caces, prior Chairperson for Southwest Area who lives now outside of California and so pleased to see her after her long hiatus.
Picture of Lino Aldana, past president of FFRGOC and Ike Quiaoit, chair of San Jose Filipino Ministry who were participants during the ordination.
So pleased that Christ Cathedral allowed us to display Our Lady of Harvest. The religious icon is being taken cared of by Fonz Fontanares . Thank you Fonz.
Beautiful bouquet was donated and arranged by Filipino Ministry Group of Christ Cathedral especially by our FFRGOC Pro Nenita Miyata and Eddie Higera.
Please note the icon picture looks like the paintings of the famous Filipino artist, Amorsolo.
Special Message from the Convenor of our Lady of Harvest (Pilgrim Image of the Filipino Migrants), Fonz Fontanares:
"On the forthcoming Jubilee Year 2025, His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will celebrate a JubileeThanksgiving Mass for Filipino Migrants set on October 12 next year to cap a 3-day Jubilee Congress . Hope to invite Filipino migrants from the 7 continents of the world in this one big momentous event. It is our desire to reach out to the Filipino Ministry of the diocese of Orange as it has been our wish that no Filipino community will be left out. We hope that a big contingent from the many Filipino ministries in the Orange Diocese will be part of this once-in-a-lifetime event in Rome."
Pictures during the ceremony:
To be ordained priests being prayed for
Thank you to the couple FFRGOC Pro, Nenita Miyata and Dean Miyata who always work hard during FFRGOC and other churches events.
FFRGOC Pro Nenita Miyata with other Christ Cathedral Church Ministry Members with Father Cole.
FFRGOC is also proud that our own FFRGOC choir, who are now famous, participated after the mass as shown below:
FFRGOC Choir Director, Larry Orque Jr. leading the choir outside the church and yet still performed very well even in outside environment.
Another picture inside the church and everyone dressed to the hilt using Barong Tagalog
FFRGOC Choir in action where they sang in both English and Tagalog languages and wowed the audience.
There was a buffet lunch courtesy of the mother of Father Cole and participated by those invited.
I encouraged everyone to watch this full video of the ordination for education and experience and feel and see this once in a life time experience that you will treasure for the rest of your life and showed also the multicultural audience and priests including our very own FFRGOC Spiritual Director, Father Juan Caboboy, common to Southern CA which rhymes with Philip Johnson architectural style , the "international style" of the building. Even homilies and songs were in different languages i.e. Tagolog, Spanish, Korean and English.
If available to you, please connect your computer to big screen tv to watch in theater mode for full enjoyment.
Through the courtesy of the Diocese of Orange the Ordination of the Priest video was made available online for public to see and be part of the event. Please click the link below.
On behalf of our Filipino community we appreciate those people who attended and participated in the event.
As your Web Administrator, FFRGOC, I hope you enjoy reading this blog and please make it known to other people by going to our website ffrgoc.org and please subscribe to our website so you are immediately informed of updates.
Comments