January 14, 2017, Eve of the Feast of the Sto Nino – The new year is ushered in with the first Parish General Assembly (GA) held at the St. Peregrine Parish Hall. This is the second GA since the installation of Rev. Fr. Joel Ma. Morata as parish priest.

Building on the vital message of building good, human, and fraternal relationships in the parish, Fr. Morata expressed his keen interest to get to know his flock. He also revealed more of himself by sharing the story of his journey so far as a priest – from the time of his ordination to his present parish assignment. He also took the opportunity to recap key interventions made to improve the Eucharistic celebrations and the administration of the parish as a whole, and shared his observations of the parish workers and his expectations from them – among which is discipline in service. He also emphasized that a key priority this year is the development of the BEC program.

Meanwhile, in response to the evolving communication needs of the faithful, Assistant Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Leonard Ma. Guiang, OSM, formally introduced the newly-established Social Media Office and its members. The parish website was also re-launched, along with the official accounts of the parish in other web platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Bro. Alfred Balensosa, a member of the Social Media Team, gave a virtual tour of the parish website.

Another highlight of the assembly is the cascading done by Sis. Leila Gaspar-Amor of the Parish Planning & Formation Department of key points from His Excellency Most Rev. Jesse E. Mercado’s talk on this year’s thrust, “Communion of Communities.” Bishop delivered the message during the Diocesan Council of the Laity Quo Vadis forum held last October 29, 2016, at the Diocesan Center for Evangelization.

Key outcome of the parish planning held last November 2016 is the deliberation of the Parish Council of the common needs of commissions and of local pastoral communities. These were confirmed in the last part of the gathering as Sis. Kring Loquias of the Parish Planning & Formation Department talked about the parish formation thrust and plans to encourage parishioners to be involved in the church. Initial plans were shared such as the upcoming formation series for parish workers for them to get to know Jesus better through the Scriptures, as the pre-cursor of relationships formed in the parish community is the personal encounter and relationship with Jesus.

The Commission on Youth perked up the morning with an icebreaker and a game.

A total of 86 people attended the GA, coming from the 11 local communities within the parish.