Christmas, New Year, and Finances

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

Has shopping this Season burned a hole in your pocket? Have no fear. Here's something to put in that fresh and crisp planner you just got as a Christmas present. We invite you to start the year right with a talk on financial security! Check it out:

See you on January 5, 2014, Sunday, 2-4pm, at Calayan Cultural Center! Meanwhile... don't let your financial worries cloud your view of the Baby in the manger. Christmas is about being joyful for Someone's coming, not for receiving gifts. Have a blessed Christmas! 

Make a kid happy this Christmas!

CatC:H catechism Project Magpasaya 2012

The Christmas season is coming up! Have you thought of how you can celebrate it more meaningfully this year? Here’s an idea: bring joy to others, especially to those who are close to the Birthday Celebrant’s heart—little children.

This Christmas, CatC:H will hold another Project Magpasaya to bring cheer to the young beneficiaries of the feeding program of the Center for Peace Asia Foundation in Bgy. Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City. In this regard, we wish to invite you to take part in this project by sponsoring the Christmas party on December 7, 2013, Saturday, 9am to 12nn. Apart from food and games, CatC:H will also give gifts that will help the children in school.

A donation of P150 covers a child’s meal and gift. Imagine! You can make a child happy by simply foregoing your favorite Starbucks Christmas drink, a fast food meal, or popcorn and soda at the movies. Your little sacrifice will give an underprivileged child something nice to remember of Christmas in years to come!

Helping out is easy. You may give your pledge (P150) to any CatC:H member. You may also sponsor in kind by donating notebooks, ballpens, pencils, file cases, or other school materials.

If you cannot meet up with us, you may deposit your pledge in our Union Bank savings account: Arlyn Gladys Cabanting or Mary Jane Donado 101670000067. Kindly scan and email your deposit slip to calayancatechists2010@gmail.com or text Nicole at (0916) 341-3366 or Jocelyn at (0918) 497-1870 to let us know.

Thanks a lot and may you have lots of blessings this Christmas and in the coming year!

Relief Friday

We declare this coming Friday, November 15, 2013, as RELIEF FRIDAY. Let's help the typhoon victims.

Please come to Calayan at 6pm with any of the following:

bottled water 

easy to open canned goods 

biscuits
blankets
sanitary napkins
diapers
soap
toothbrushes
toothpaste
shampoo
wearable clothes
slippers
tent

All donations that we can collect will be forwarded through UA&P volunteers. Quantity matters less, its the GENEROSITY that counts! Invite your girl friends! See you!

September 7 Prayer for Peace

Pope Francis declared September 7 as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and the whole world. Catholic or not, let's unite with the Church in this universal call. Peace is something that all must possess.

From EWTN NEWS:

Vatican City, September 1, 2013 - Departing from his typical reflections on the Sunday gospel, Pope Francis used his Angelus audience today to call for peace throughout the world, particularly in conflict-ridden Syria.

“I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me,” he said to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 1.

“There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming,” continued the Pope.

“For this reason, brothers and sisters, I have decided to call for a vigil for the whole Church,” he announced.

It will be “a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, in the Middle East, and throughout world.”

The vigil will take place on Sept. 7, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace. Those who can will gather in St. Peter’s Square from 7 p.m. until midnight: other local Churches are requested to join in the fasting and prayer by gathering together.

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=8358#ixzz2e571ioJn

Girl Meets World: A Rural Service Project

CatC:H is inviting young professional women to celebrate the culmination of the Year of Faith by taking up the challenge given by Pope Francis to the young people all over the world. Sign up for CatC:H's Rural Service Project in Iriga, Bicol, on November 21-24, 2013.

Get ready to teach female student leaders in the different high schools in Iriga. You will be an "Ate" who can help them to face college life (and real life) with the right disposition and spirit.

Your time is valuable, and so there is no better way to spend it! Challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone. Don't wait for somebody to do something someday. That "somebody" is you, that "something" is this, and that "someday" is NOW!

A small sacrifice each day will help you save up for the coming activities! 

Other ways to help include sharing some of your blessings: donate a chair to a school...

...or help start a festive tradition of setting up a Belen in a rural school. Advent and Christmas will be just around the corner, after all.

For more details or to be a volunteer, text Nicole at 0916-341-3366. We only have 30 slots available, so sign up now!

Flashback Friday!

This Friday, August 23, 2013, at 7:30pm, Rio 2013 volunteer Karen Crisostomo will share her experiences and what she learned from Pope Francis in last month's WYD. Come to Calayan Cultural Center and invite your friends!

You're invited!

Rainy week, this! But that doesn't mean we should stop working. So we invite you to a special talk, given by hubby-and-wife team Jason and Crystalina Evert, on Sept 7, 2013, Saturday, at the PICC Plenary Hall. Here's the poster for the details. See you there! 

Some things Pope Francis said on the WYD Rio 2013

“Christ has confidence in young people and entrusts them with the very future of his mission, ‘Go and make disciples.’ Go beyond the confines of what is humanly possible and create a world of brothers and sisters! And young people have confidence in Christ: they are not afraid to risk for him the only life they have, because they know they will not be disappointed.” (Pope Francis WYD 2013).

The largest gathering of young people at Copacabana beach! 

We didn't get to go to the World Youth Day 2013, but we're putting the money we raised to a CatC:H Rural Service Project in Bicol to celebrate the Year of Faith. Please continue to pray for us!

In the meantime, there's much to love about (and learn from) the WYD. Pope Francis has a lot to teach the youth. Here are some of the things he said, along with pictures of the fruitful week. Enjoy!


"Young people are the window through which the future enters the world, thus presenting us with great challenges. Our generation will show that it can realize the promise found in each young person when we know how to give them space; how to create the material and spiritual conditions for their full development; how to give them a solid basis on which to build their lives; how to guarantee their safety and their education to be everything they can be; how to pass on to them lasting values that make life worth living; how to give them a transcendent horizon for their thirst for authentic happiness and their creativity for the good; how to give them the legacy of a world worthy of human life; and how to awaken in them their greatest potential as builders of their own destiny, sharing responsibility for the future of everyone." (Pope Francis, Welcome Ceremony at the Garden of Guanabara Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, WYD 2013)

"Young people are a powerful engine for the Church and for society. They do not need material things alone; also and above all, they need to have held up to them those non-material values which are the spiritual heart of a people, the memory of a people. In this Shrine, which is part of the memory of Brazil, we can almost read those values: spirituality, generosity, solidarity, perseverance, fraternity, joy; they are values whose deepest root is in the Christian faith." (Pope Francis, Homily, Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, WYD 2013)

"Dear friends, if we walk in hope, allowing ourselves to be surprised by the new wine which Jesus offers us, we have joy in our hearts and we cannot fail to be witnesses of this joy. Christians are joyful, they are never gloomy. God is at our side." (Pope Francis, Homily, Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, WYD 2013)

"Leadership also means making the most just decision after having considered all the options from the standpoint of personal responsibility and concern for the common good. This is the way to go to the heart of the evils of a society and to overcome them, also with the boldness of courageous and free actions. In exercising our responsibility, with all its limitations, it is important to embrace all of reality, observing, pondering, evaluating, in order to make decisions in the present but with an eye to the future, reflecting on the consequences of our decisions. To act responsibly is to see one’s own actions in the light of other people’s rights and God’s judgement. To preserve this ethical sense appears today as an unprecedented historic challenge. Beyond scientific and technical competence, the present situation also demands a sense of moral obligation expressed in a social and deeply fraternal exercise of responsibility." (Pope Francis, Meeting with Representatives of Society of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, WYD 2013)

"'Put on faith': what does this mean? When we prepare a plate of food and we see that it needs salt, well, we 'put on' salt; when it needs oil, then you 'put on' oil. 'To put on,' that is, to place on top of, to pour over. And so it is in our life, dear young friends: if we want it to have real meaning and fulfillment, as you want and as you deserve, I say to each one of you, 'Put on faith,' and your life will take on a new flavour, it will have a compass to show you the way; 'put on hope' and every one of your days will be enlightened and your horizon will no longer be dark, but luminous; 'put on love,' and your life will be like a house built on rock, your journey will be joyful, because you will find many friends to journey with you. Put on faith, put on hope, put on love!" (Pope Francis, Discourse of the Holy Father at Copacabana, WYD 2013)

"Jesus did not say: 'if you would like to, if you have the time,' but: 'Go and make disciples of all nations.' Sharing the experience of faith, bearing witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, and that includes you; but it is a command that is born not from a desire for domination or power but from the force of love, from the fact that Jesus first came into our midst and gave us, not a part of himself, but the whole of himself, he gave his life in order to save us and to show us the love and mercy of God. Jesus does not treat us as slaves, but as free men, as friends, as brothers and sisters; and he not only sends us, he accompanies us, he is always beside us in our mission of love." (Pope Francis, Homily, Mass at Copacabana, WYD 2013)

"And then, Jesus did not say: 'One of you go,' but 'All of you go': we are sent together. Dear young friends, be aware of the companionship of the whole Church and also the communion of the saints on this mission. When we face challenges together, then we are strong, we discover resources we did not know we had. Jesus did not call the Apostles to live in isolation, he called them to form a group, a community." (Pope Francis, Homily, Mass at Copacabana, WYD 2013)

"Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion; in a culture of relativism and the ephemeral, many preach the importance of 'enjoying' the moment. They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, 'for ever,' because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes that you are incapable of responsibility, that you are incapable of true love. I have confidence in you and I pray for you. Have the courage 'to swim against the tide.' Have the courage to be happy." (Pope Francis, Meeting with the Volunteers of the 28th WYD)

If you want to read more of what Pope Francis said during the WYD 2013, go here. Now, go and make disciples of all nations!