Hillside, NJ September 23, 2009.

As a way of response to the Year of the Priest, CFC-FFL NJ (CFCUSA-NJ) hosted The Filipino Clergy Association of the Americas, Inc. in a meeting held on Sept 22, 2009 at the CFC-FFL's Home in Hillside, New Jersey (CFCUSA-NJ).

The meeting was attended by 16 Filipino priests from NJ and NY some of whom are well known supporters of CFC-FFL led by their current President, Fr. Virgilio Tolentino from the Diocese of Metuchen. Their guest of honor was Archbishop Romulo Valles of Zamboanga, Philippines who concelebrated the day's mass with several of the attendees.

Archbishop Valles will be the main celebrant and homilist of the Annual San Lorenzo Ruiz mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ on Sept 26.

Click here to view more pictures.

(Submitted by J. de Leon)

Crestwood Lake (Red Barn), Allendale, NJ 07401 August 8, 2009

The Archbishop of Iloilo, who is also President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, expressed that it is God’s plan for him to visit CFC FFL NJ despite his hectic schedule. He was warmly welcomed with cheers and greeted with a delightful gourmet cake to celebrate his recent birthday.

His Excellency, in his message to the community, noted CFC FFL’s conference theme “Trust in Jesus” printed on the CFC members’ t-shirts. He said that the meaning of this theme was well expressed when all prayed with him the Divine Mercy chaplet at 3:00pm, lauding the community for not forgetting its religious practices even in the midst of a celebration.

He also encouraged everyone to continue loving one another for when two or more come together and love one another, God is in their midst. He added that there is no person so poor that he cannot give nor a person so rich that he cannot receive.

To conclude his visit, Archbishop Lagdameo gave his blessings to the CFC FFL community.

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OPEN LETTERS

The letters below should provide us some food for thought to reflect on our involvement in community activities/functions and hopefully should give us that proper perspective as we prepare for the upcoming CFC-FFL National Conference at Maryland on July 3-6 and the SFC and YFC Conference in Chicago on July 24-26.  May God bless us all and guide us for our selfless service to the community - for the glory of God.  Tony Pormento

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Ken,

It is a job well done.  We are all in grace when we come together to work as one for His glory.  This is another reaffirmation of the following in Romans, Chapter 12, as follows (please read below):

This is a good reading that I encourage everyone to reflect.  This will revitalize our spirit and strenghten our faith, and will exactly put us where our Dear Lord wants us to be.

Thanks and God bless
Tony & Claire

CFC Youth USA-New Jersey

TO ALL

Linda Mendoza’s efforts in bringing one of the PFO objectives into reality had manifested its fruits in the recent CFC Youth-USA Dinner-Dance fundraiser at Fair Lawn. Gone are the isolationist postures of the Ministries of old. What we are looking at now is a well-intentioned and unified CFC-FFL ministries with each one moving on to prop up one another.

The attached Dinner-dance pictures tell a thousand stories - and in the recent youth function, the result is nothing short of it being a harbinger of change.

First, where can you find a more charismatic DJ than our very own Area Director, Ed Yamba – whose dance music repertoire and moves that go with the beat keep the CFC-FFL parents and guests packing the dance floor - to the delight of our youths -with Linda Ongtengco leading the dance - while husband Lino’s camera humming a seemingly endless shutter clicks.

But not to be discounted are the CFC-FFL parents whose efforts will shame the connoisseurs in the field of culinary arts - the North Cluster CFC-FFL Couples who after getting the ingredients from Annie, prepared and cooked the food, such as Manny Ignacio, Marisol Ramirez, Elda Maglente, Tess Aclan and Marichu Laxina - who all did the laborious cooking for nothing.

And the setting of the venue? Our new North Cluster Parent Coordinator - Ramses Laxina, who had the first taste of how it is to be a parent coordinator in action, along with his 2 children and some of the North Cluster youth members – set the tone and ambiance of the dinner-dance hall.

Glenn Ramirez and JP Arnesto punctuated the event by showing a highlight of YFC activities with their video presentation that could throw Dreamworks 10 years behind.

And of course, with Boy and Annie Arnesto, the chairpersons of the entire event – who quietly did the work behind the scenes - along with the team of cluster parent coordinators behind them, especially Tony & Evelyn Pana’s South and Joe and Elaine’s South-Sth Clusters who drove the kids all the way from the Atlantic City area, Jun and Tess Ong’s Central Cluster, and Sergs and Lolit Yap’s Campus-based-South, and our program Volunteers Jonathan Chichioco and Kat Pormento and their team of youth leaders, and the horde of parent coordinators and supporters from all clusters - the event cannot just be labeled as another dinner-dance but “an affair to remember.” And it is worth noting that we were able to accomplish the task to this degree only because the CFC-FFL, starting from the Area Council, the CFC-FFL leadership, the family ministries led by Jun and Helen (SFC, HOLD, SOLD, KFC) acted as one family in support of another member of the family, the YFC.

The Dinner-Dance is just but one example. Last weekend, as our Northeast Area Youth coordinators and AC members Pete and Ging Dinglasan were with the Chapter 4 who promised an all out support to the upcoming South Cluster youth camp, the Central Cluster youth camp also got its support from the CFC-FFL Chapter 1 as the YFC camp led by youth leaders Christian Origenes and Reina Makkaraeng dedicated 17 new youths at CTK Hillside. I could still hear Lulu Sychua saying, “I should have brought the CLS info sheet with me” as she and Oscar and the rest of the CFC-FFL parents around talked to non-CFC parents of the newly dedicated youths who showed interest in the community because of the perceived change to their child in just over the weekend’s camp. Again, a reaffirmation of the fact that the YFC camps provide that rare opportunity where we can evangelize non-CFC parents of YFC members into the community.

Also, worth noting in the Central Cluster youth camp is the selfless dedication of Ian and Cecil Santos for serving and staying overnight with the YFC despite them being Chapter 1 KFC parent coordinators. Ian and Cecil are still in smiles after staying even up to the wee hours of the morning helping out and enjoying every minute of the service.

Still on the same weekend, the joint YFC South and South-Sth Clusters assembly at Egg Harbor in Atlantic is one function that we’re glad we didn’t miss (see pictures). Though the drive was a challenge, Joe & Elaine’s hot molo soup and the smiles from the kids and the rest of the parent coordinators alike are just so warming to the heart. Seeing the kids in high spirits as they shared their spiritual journeys is more than worth my 4th cup of coffee to keep myself awake in our drive back to the youth camp at CTK in Hillside.

And today, a few hours from now, this unified one-family action by the CFC-FFL community will again be manifested in service to God and the ministry of Fr. Suarez.

To all those who in one way or another extended a hand and who still continuously do so for our youths, we doff our hats with a sincere gratitude for your selfless and untiring support. May the good Lord shower you, your family, your loved ones and your friends with love and graces from here through eternity.

Thank you and God bless

Tony & Claire

Sample pictures from the Dinner-Dance, The youth camp and the Southand South-Sth assembly