Wrapping up 2009 with Optimism & Gratitude

With much optimism that Christian service and social responsibility would continue to blossom in the parish community, the Holy Rosary Parish – Social Action Center (HRP-SAC) wrapped up 2009 with various activities including the celebration of Human Rights Day on December 10 and the Gift-giving involving 450 indigent families from the eight barangays covered by the parish on December 30, 2009.

Human Rights Day Celebration

On December 10, 2009, the Holy Rosary Parish (HRP) joined the rest of the world in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event, the first ever in the parish, came in the heels of the infamous Ampatuan massacre which resulted in the brutal killing of thirty journalists along with twenty seven other unarmed civilians. It was an opportunity to show solidarity with the grieving families of the victims. It was, likewise a chance to foster awareness on our basic human rights as adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

Among the rights covered are: Civil & Political Human Rights which are fundamental, natural, inherent, ‘inalienable’ rights that cannot be taken away (i.e. right to life, liberty, justice, freedom of expression); Economic, Social & Cultural Rights which are aspirational in nature (i.e. the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment); and Group Rights which include environmental & development rights.

HRP’s celebration kicked off with a holy mass presided by Bp. Pablo S. David, HRP Parish Priest and a well-known advocate of social development and human rights. The mass was highlighted by the offertory that featured an Aeta family bearing symbolic gifts. A short program that involved representatives from the various Chapel Pastoral Councils (CPC) of the parish followed. Each CPC offered a prayer based on its aspirations for the community.

Two intermission numbers featured local talents. Clad in black and gold costumes, a group of hearing-impaired teeners from the Angeles Elementary School did an interpretative dance of the song Batang-bata Ka Pa. Another teener named Patricia Aira Narciso, a Grade 6 pupil from the Angeles Elementary School sang a song entitled “Hawak-Kamay”. The event ended with a candle-lighting ceremony which symbolized the call for peace tempered with justice for all human rights victims.

Christmas Gift-giving

After the Human Rights’ Day celebration, HRP-SAC volunteers were kept busy with the preparations for the Christmas Gift-giving. This year, a total of 450 indigent families from Barangays San Pablo, San Vicente, Sto. Rosario, Lourdes Sur, San Jose, San Nicolas, San Roque, Sto. Cristo received media noche gift packs containing items (e.g. spaghetti sauce, pasta, corned beef, powdered juice, and bread loaf) for a hearty New Year’s Day meal.

The activity was done in coordination with the CPCs and made possible by the Holy Rosary Parish parishioners and friends who generously responded to the appeals made during the first and the last days of the Simbang Gabi. The Christmas gift-giving was the culmination of a year of Christian service and social responsibility which enabled HRP-SAC to provide the following assistance (Note: figures reflect beneficiaries served and assisted from July to December 2009 only)

• Assistance to walk-in clients needing basic items and services like food, transportation and clothes – 109 beneficiaries

• Referrals to other institutions- 25 beneficiaries

• Medical assistance/services – 26 beneficiaries

• Medical Mission in cooperation with SACOP, AUF and HRP Volunteer Doctors (Candaba and Arayat, Pampanga) – 807 patients

• Gift-giving (sponsored by various groups and organizations including Jollibee, Lingkod ng Panginoon, Lifegiver and Angeles City Food Package) – 104 families

• Parish-sponsored Gift-giving – 450 families

• Assistance to Disaster-affected Communities (Botolan, Zambales; Metro Manila; Pangasinan; Tarlac; Arayat, Pampanga) – Cash donations amounting to P 441,854.35 + donations-in-kind (e.g. clothes, food and non-food items) dispatched

HRP-SAC looks forward to 2010 with optimism as it girds for the planning and implementation of the Archdiocesan Integrated Pastoral Plan 3 (AIPP-3) which was launched in the Archdiocese on October 24, 2009. In line with this, a parish-wide pastoral planning will be conducted in the first quarter of 2010 to enable the parish to align its vision, mission, goals and objectives with those prescribed by AIPP-3. Among the pastoral priorities of the Archdiocese of San Fernando to which HRP belongs are: lay empowerment, basic ecclesial communities, liturgical renewal, service to the poorest of the poor, preservation of the environment, protection and promotion of human life, Catholic education, moral and spiritual renewal, responsible citizenship and good governance, and renewal and formation of leaders.