Message from the Pastor

With joy in our hearts we gladly welcome the Archbishop, his Excellency Most Revd. Salvatore J. Cordileone to our Parish for the installation of Fr. Ted Magpayo as the new pastor of St. Brendan Parish. As it’s the traditional hymn of welcome for a bishop I say “ecce sarcedos Magnus, qui in diebus suis placuit Deo”.

We also rejoice exceedingly with our new pastor Fr. Ted on his formal installation as our pastor. The ceremony of installation highlights the fact of the unity of the pastor with the Bishop and the unity of the people with their Bishop through their pastor.

All ministerial priests share in the priesthood of Christ just like every baptized Christian, but in a more visible way, the ordained priest participate in the priesthood of the Bishop in whom is found the fullness of the priesthood. In his function, the Bishop teaches, sanctifies and governs the flock entrusted to his pastoral care in his local church. The ceremony of installation confers on the pastor the privilege to participate and carry out these functions for a particular as a coworker with the bishop.

Simply put, the pastor assists the bishop in administering a parish. In his function as teacher, the pastor will teach the people to follow the way of God that leads to salvation by his homilies, catechesis, spiritual talks/direction, confession and in many other ways. He is the teacher of the people in the ways of faith.

In the function of sanctifying, the pastor will faithfully and with reverence celebrate the sacraments for and with the people, calling down the grace of God upon his people. He shall lead them to a solid life of prayer and gently, loving but firmly bring the mercy of God to those who are on the margins of faith and also show compassion to the lowly, the anawims (poorest of the poor) of Yahweh.

In his function to govern, the pastor is to lead the people. He is the custodian and administrator of the church’s goods. He is to prove himself the good shepherd who came not to be served but to serve and to give his live as a ransom for many. When something is installed its needs to fit, if it does not fit either the thing is pruned to fit or the space is pruned to allow it fit. When installing software, there are times some programs will have to be uninstalled for the new program to be able to run well.

Consequently, when a new pastor is installed and he begins to govern, there are obviously some pruning either on one side or both sides and so I invite us to give Fr. Ted our support as he begins his pastorate in St. Brendan and ready to prune and be pruned if need be. Jesus summarizes the whole of the commandments today into love, when we come out and support the parish out of duty it will amount to nothing but if its for love of God it will be sown for an eternal harvest.

And to you my beloved brother Fr. Ted, congratulations on your installation. I want you to see yourself as a “love program” installed in St. Brendan. Lead the people by love not from a sense of duty but out of the immense love in your heart and your intense love of Jesus. Have a pastoral heart that can abandon 99 sheep in search for the one that is missing.

My dear sisters and brothers, beloved parishioners, please support our new pastor, support him with your time, talent and treasure so that the love of God will overflow, that our bond of love will be stronger and our hearts and minds more united.

May God bless our Archbishop, our new pastor and our parish.

Peace.

Fr. Theo

Message from the Pastor

In our Sunday’s gospel, the Jewish authorities sought to trap Jesus in a religious-state issue. This is the issue regarding paying taxes: whether to PAY TAX or to practice TAX EVASION. Jesus quoted the saying: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Actually, the Jews themselves resented their foreign rulers and despised paying taxes to Caesar. They posed a dilemma to test Jesus to see if he was loyal to them and to their understanding of religion. Whatever answer Jesus would give, there’s no way out! Jesus avoided their trap by confronting them with the image of a coin. Well, it comes from Caesar, return it back to Caesar!

In our society, we oftentimes hear that there’s SEPARATION of Church and State (as regards their FUNCTION). People oftentimes ask, why then the Church “meddles” or “interferes” with POLITICS (STATE/ GOVERNMENT concerns)? The answer is, because they SHARE the SAME constituents. To realize, the CITIZENS of the NATION are also the FAITHFUL of the CHURCH. Right? Also, as far as the role of the Church, it cannot just keep silent on certain SOCIAL-MORAL-ETHICAL issues.

Jesus practically mentioned in the gospel, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." In connection to this, breadwinners of families are constantly being reminded, that they have to give to their work (job) what is due to their work (job); and to give to their family what is due to their family. Some people may rationalize (reason out) with this words, “Anyway, I do my work for my family”. But we need to draw a line to clearly distinguish times devoted to one’s work with times devoted to one’s family. There has to be a healthy balance between the two, besides FAMILY BONDING times should be encouraged.

Now, on our part, have we really given “the things to God, that are God's.”? To realize again, almost EVERYTHING BELONGS to GOD, that is, if we acknowledge it, and we give God the credit. This reminds me of an incident when once I was a chaplain in a hospital, when nurses assessed their patients as IMPROVING. The natural impression and comment t they would say is, “this is due to the wonders of medicines!” I would challenge them by asking, where or who is the source of all these medicines after all???

The gospel also makes us assess our STEWARDSHIP in Christ. Do we do our part to support our parish/church? Do we give what should dutifully be given? We hear sometimes that in certain non-Roman Catholic denominations, they really meticulously practice or are particular in giving their 10% contribution from their salary or income. For the Roman Catholic, we do not impose this, for we leave it to the discretion of the member-donor. Love freely given and not forced is sweeter.

On this MISSION Sunday weekend, it is nostalgic for me to recall when once I was a missionary in Papua New Guinea that it is a great delight to receive something from the people themselves whether a card, monetary gift, financial assistance and other gestures which  can mean “they care for their priests”, especially those in the mission field.

MAY Christ, the great MISSIONARY, “reaching out” from heaven to earth, be our great example to also REACH OUT to others in our own way.

Message from the Parochial Vicar

                              The attitude of gratitude

My dearly beloved St. Brendan family, a couple of weeks ago I wrote in our bulletin about the ice bucket challenge and how we could use it to challenge one another’s faith. Just few weeks after, another challenge chain has emerged on the social media. For me, it is terrific. It is called the gratitude challenge. The most amazing thing about this gratitude challenge is the fact that it reminds us that all we have and are thankful for comes from God. No single person in this challenge so far has credited his reason of thankfulness to himself or to any other thing but exclusively to God.

My auntie called me on Friday and extended this gratitude challenge to me. She said I should give seven reasons to be grateful to God, and I said I would do it in our parish bulletin, which she accepted.

Here are my reasons for gratitude:

One year in St. Brendan: 9/22/2014 was exactly one year since I have been in St. Brendan Parish. I had a lot of mixed feelings when I was asked to come here. I was glad that I was going to meet new people and encounter a new culture but I

was also sad that I was leaving my comfortable zone, leaving my Mom and friends but the grace of God has helped me

to find so much meaning of my being here in St. Brendan that the year went by so fast. It seems like three months to me. God, I thank you.

The people of St. Brendan: in the parishioners of St. Brendan I have met and now belong to an amazing family. Your warm heartedness, your kindness and prayers have made me very at home here and now I refer to St. Brendan as a “home-away-from – home”. God , I thank you for the people of St. Brendan.

The School community: another amazing community is the school, the principal, faculty, and students. They are a wonderful gift to me. Having the opportunity to be a witness of faith to the faculty and students and to share this faith with them brings a lot of hope for the future Church. God, I thank you.

Fr. Daniel Nascimento: From the day Fr. Dan picked me up at the airport till today he has proven to be one of the kindest persons I have ever met. So gentle and humane. I was assigned to work with Fr. Dan as his parochial Vicar but he turned me not only into a friend but a brother. His parents adopted me as their son and his niece and nephews call me “Uncle Theo”. I cannot thank God enough for bringing Fr. Dan in my life at the time and moment he did. God, I thank you.

Fr. Ted Magpayo: Fr. Ted has continued where Fr. Dan stopped. We are having a good time in the rectory and apart from our good working relationship, we are fast becoming friends as we share meals together and sometimes go out to dinner together. I thank God for his humility. God, I thank you.

The Parish Staff: they have been so gentle with me and ready to help me at all times. They have been very instrumental in my smooth transition. God, I thank you for the parish Staff.

My vacation: it was very sweet to see my Mom again and to eat Mama’s food again and to spend time with her loving and feeling loved.  But I am most thankful that she is able to cope well with my absence but not only that, also that she is

happy and grateful that I am a missionary.

Now I pass on this challenge to you the reader who has this bulletin in your hand to give seven reasons why you are grateful to God, using any means like social Media i.e. Facebook etc. This challenge is helping to remind people that God is the fount and source of all blessing and not our efforts.

Pray for me as I make my may to Santa Barbra for the cultural orientation program for international ministers at Loyola Marymount University.

October is the month dedicated to our mother Mary, I encourage you to pray the rosary daily and teach your children how to pray the rosary too and also participate in the rosary rally on October 11^th. May our mother Mary cover us with her mantle of love and may her powerful intercessions always help us.

Fr. Theo