Nurturing Vocations

“Your sharing and talk has helped us confirm the different things that we need to do to help nurture vocations” said Ate Lory, the leader of the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission.

Indeed it was an afternoon of affirming and confirming firstly our individual call as lay missionaries and highlighting different vital elements needed to nurture vocations as we shared with members of the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission (PCLM) at their Annual General Meeting of leaders. Reflecting on Luke 10:2 “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting”, the members of the PCLM were interested in ways to encourage more lay people to respond to God’s call as missionaries. In her presentation, Esther drew from the members the key elements of their own call to the mission and highlighted the importance of these elements in their efforts to nurture vocation. She also encouraged them to identify their core identity as PCLM to be able to communicate that clearly to those interested.

Reflecting on Christifidelis Laici, the apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the world, the Church affirms the present urgency for a re-evangelization and our 'responsibility to foster the birth and growth of vocations...in the lay state, specifically directed to the missions" (#35). The vocation of lay missionaries is indeed a vocation that is needed in the Church and needs to be presented and fostered so that others may discover and respond to this particular call.

There was a question whether there is still a need for lay missionaries. Quoting the late Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in Asia, “The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give”, all agreed that this is still a big need, and that unless there is someone who will preach and share Jesus Christ and his Gospel, the thirst of the peoples of Asia will remain unquenched! As lay missionaries, our aim is primarily to share Christ and his Gospel.

We also shared our individual testimonies of how we responded to God’s call to be a missionary.

Domisiano and Caroline shared their story of encountering God and answering His call from the perspective of a married couple.

From our shared experiences, we concluded that the most effective promotion is the witness of our lives as missionaries, our prayer for more labourers, our passion for the Lord, and reaching out to others in love and inviting them to a deeper encounter with Jesus through ‘come and see’ experiences. The internet, media and publicity materials are then additional supports that would help stir and nurture the vocation in others.

We ended the session with a time of prayer, offering our lives anew to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to renew the members in their call and in their various mission fields. It was a blessed afternoon indeed, where we, ourselves, were refreshed by the time spent with brothers and sisters who were passionate to respond to the Lord as lay missionaries.

For more information on the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission, please visit their website http://www.philcatholiclaymission.com/index.php

Christmas inTagaytay

Our Christmas in Tagaytay was a special time of celebrating Jesus' birth with our neighbours. On 23 December, we had a party for the children who attend our monthly Children ministry. 23 children came and we shared the story of Jesus' birth through songs, a short Veggie Tales animation. The children then folded a heart from paper to symbolize their hearts and to invite Jesus in. We then ended with a time of eating and games.

That night, we went carolling around our neighbourhood and prayed with the families living around us. After a few attempts at harmonizing, we finally perfected and polished our repertoire at the last cluster! It was a beautiful time of praising and proclaiming the birth of our Saviour and our joy to be able to share it with our neighbours.

Celebrating Christmas in Montalban!

Christmas marks a special time in the Philippines. Many Filipino Catholics make special effort to attend the 9 day Dawn Mass (Simbang Gabi) leading to Christmas Day. They make special effort to arise early to attend mass at 4 am before going off to work. It is the time of the year when the churches are packed to the brim. Christ remains in the centre of Christmas. It is also a time for families to gather together to celebrate with joy, peace and love.

We had our annual Reverse Carolling project together with the members of our Balikatan Ministry (adult group). This year, we gave out 100 hampers to poor families in the area.
With each family, we sang Christmas carols and prayed for their needs. These families asked the Lord to bless their families especially their children with good health, to give work to their husbands, and that there will be food on the table each day of the new year. We continue to unite in prayer with these families that the Lord hears and answers their prayers.


And we also had our annual Christmas party with our ministry members...
For the Balikatan Ministry, it was a joyous celebration of thanksgiving as we remembered God's faithfulness and providence in the lives of our members throughout the year. A significant development in 2010 was the commitment made by some of the Balikatan members to grow as disciples of Jesus and to love and serve each other in this ministry. Another step towards growth was also the empowerment of some committed members to serve as leaders and organisers of their small groups, and various events.


With the Children Ministry, we saw our teenage group "Seeds of Faith" empowered to serve the younger groups of children in the different sessions. For Christmas, they performed a Christmas pageant for the children. Each child in the ministry received gifts and their whole year's worksheets from each session. It was priceless to see their smiles !We would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous sponsors for their kind donations that helped our ministry members spend Christmas in a special way this year! God bless you!

Christmas greetings from all of us!

Christmas Greetings ICPE Mission Philippines 2010-2

Our community on retreat...

Two weeks ago, our community spent 5 days of retreat at our centre in Tagaytay. Rev Fr Ron Bagley, CJM, our retreat director, provided us with rich insights from the gospel passages about various encounters with Jesus. Coming together at the end of each day, we had the opportunity to listen to each community member's encounter with the Lord in prayer that day. It was a blessed time of being, praying and bonding together as a community- refreshed by Jesus to know Him and to continue to make Him known in our lives.

Coming together for morning reflections with Fr Ron...


Celebrating the Holy Eucharist together at the end of the retreat...
On the last night, an Agape meal to share Christ's love through the gift of each other with fellowship at the table

Reaching out to youths...

This June, we had the privilege of reaching out to over 200 youths in a 3 day Youth Camp. It was an amazing experience of meeting energetic and vibrant youths and sharing with them the message of God's love for them...
...through music, praise and worship and action songs!

...through group activites, presentations and group sharings

...through testimonies and teaching sessions

...through creativity, mimes and sign language to song

"The wonder of Your love will break the chains that bind us, the power of Your touch releases us to worship" from the song The Wonder of Your Love

Throughout the camp, we witnessed the power of God's love that broke through chains and released the youths in worship and a new encounter with His love. In awe of His mighty works, we can only bow down and humbly proclaim that all glory belongs to Him alone!

A video clip of the ministry night.. performing the mime "The Gift" followed by a prayer session..

Triple joys on Pentecost!

Celebrating Pentecost, 25th Anniversary of the ICPE Mission and our House Blessing!

“Give us life with you on high, Give us joys that never end.”
While singing the Sequence at the Pentecost Mass, it felt like a joy that never seemed to end and triple the celebration as we celebrated Pentecost, commemorated the 25th anniversary of the ICPE Mission AND blessed our new house in Tagaytay, Philippines!

We started the day bright and early with mass, presided by His Excellency, Most Rev Luis Antonio G. Tagle, D.D. STB, Bishop of the Diocese of Imus, where we are currently located. Four of our priest friends joined the Bishop in concelebrating the Eucharist. Together with us were around 70 guests, comprising the neighbouring religious congregations, friends and benefactors of our mission centre in the Philippines. Gathering together with people from various nationalities and cultures, Bishop Tagle commented that it was indeed a glimpse of Pentecost where the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit transcended language barriers and spoke in languages that were comprehensible to the different people there. Likewise, we were called to transcend closed doors of language and cultural differences to proclaim the Good News with the power of the Holy Spirit.

During the Mass, Bishop Tagle blessed the house and officially welcomed us to the Diocese of Imus. For us the celebration was even more joyfilled with the installation of the Blessed Sacrament in our chapel for adoration. Andrina and Carol then performed a beautiful sign language to the song “To the Ends of the Earth”, a reminder for us, that filled with the Holy Spirit, we are able to bring Jesus to the ends of the earth.

After our Eucharistic celebration ended, we tucked in to a buffet brunch and had a beautiful time getting to know our neighbours and guests. We continue to praise God for the gif t of life with Him on high that we are privileged to taste a little of this day!

new beginnings...

We welcome Esther Fong, our new mission centre director!

The past week was a special time for our community in the Philippines as we welcomed the new director of our mission centre, Esther Fong. We had a beautiful and simple ceremony to pray for Esther as she signed the letter of appointment by our ICPE mission international director Mario Capello. Esther is also currently serving as one of the members of the Executive Council of the ICPE Mission.

We also thanked our outgoing director, Jitka Svozilova, for her tireless service as centre director for the past 5 years in the Philippines. She led the community in the vision of empowering the poor through her faithfulness and dedication to respond to the Lord with her yes.

As the change of leadership took place, we as a community truly thank God for the gift of leadership, especially in laying down of lives of our leaders in the service of the community!

A day with Fr Frankie Cini, MSSP

Last Monday 15 March 2010, we had the privilege of having Fr Frankie Cini, MSSP, from Malta, share about issues in group facilitation. It was a short but impactful session as we looked at the different stages of group formation and the different roles played by different group members. Bringing with him his experience and observations, Fr Frankie’s session was filled with anecdotes of his own encounters. It was also a timely session as his insights threw light into the current changes experienced by our smaller community following our relocation to Tagaytay.

Before we knew it, the day drew to a close and we could not allow Fr Frankie to leave without tasting our famous buko pie (crusty pie filled with fresh coconut slices) made by the Good Shepherd Sisters!

We thank Fr Frankie for his time and for his invaluable insights!

Celebrating 25 years of the ICPE Mission!

17th January 2010 marked the silver anniversary of the ICPE Mission. Here in the Philippines, we started our celebration with mass at our mission centre. Joining us in our celebration was Rev. Fr Chris Kowalzsyc sds and a few invited guests. As we thanked God for His many blessing and faithfulness throughout the 25 years of the ICPE Mission, we recalled the greatness of God with heartfelt joy.

After mass, we adjourned for a lunch and together, we listened to a specially recorded message from Mario and Anna Capello, our founders.

As this day kick starts the beginning of our year long celebrations, we continue to rejoice in the Lord’s goodness and His call!

So ... watch this space and join us in thanking God as we remember and celebrate His faithfulness throughout this year!

2009 Community!

Our international community: From Czech Republic, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Korea, Netherlands!

ICPE’s first discipleship school for Singaporean youth!

The Catholic Archdiocesan Youth Office in Singapore, together with the ICPE Mission, launched a 5 week discipleship school from 3 February – 6 March 2009. The discipleship school, named ‘School of Witness’ (SOW in short), aimed to form a new generation of youth in Singapore. Four of us from ICPE Philippines joined Amilia from ICPE Singapore to serve in the School. There are altogether 17 participants who shared community living, lectures, cell groups, outreaches, liturgy and personal prayer time.



During the 5 weeks school, we held different sessions on topics such as God’s revelation as Father, God’s revelation as the Son, Holy Spirit, Sacraments, Stages of development, Forgiveness, Self-acceptance, Evangelization, Apologetics, Character Formation, Scripture, Worship, Church and Youth ministry.



The school was grace-filled. We saw how God faithfully led participants to greater freedom, new self –discoveries, a journey of healing and transformation. At the end of the school, participants shared that they gained insights and encountered God in new ways. We were blessed to see how each of them were renewed and fired up to go forth as witnesses of God.