Miss Lisa and Miss Atay
Saturday, March 08, 2003
So I'm thinking back to the Church, how Jeff started his e-mails... we do need to be in touch with the US Catholic Bishops- cuz they're pretty much the "country's council." we need to let em know we're here and get on the same page with them. We want the same thing, are in the same place, and targeting the same issues. I'll start some research.
Friday, March 07, 2003
for the workshops, i'm all for us attending, but as for what we want to do with CFC SFC and YFC, i don't know. Honestly, the last thing I want to know do when I attend ministry activities is do a workshop... and I think same goes for a lot of people, not only CFC (... or I could be just wrong and biased). BUT Lis I know you were saying that the "multiculturalism" aspect is done all together- no splitting up into groups yada yada. So I think it could work. I'm all for targeting diversity and awareness on a matter-of-fact informative, intellectual level.. and if thats what the multiculturalism is about, then very cool. I'm all for sitting everyone down in a big conference room and digging deep.
I have a question for Lisa- when you go to conferences here in the US (YFC)... aside from people talking about the Philippines, aside from the speakers saying things in Tagalog (?!!?!!), and aside from all the Filipinos there... is there anything about the conference that has other cultural inclinations? Think of Jersey conf (you were less likely to be as comfortable back then) and then track it through the other conferences.
Thursday, March 06, 2003
workshops on diversity....i must ponder this a bit more....
with youth and possibly singles....workshops....ummm...work...youth at the highschool age are use to diversity singles in the work place are also used to diversity...college age youth ....this group is a bit tough since in college students in general are very culturally divided for most part...
now for the real problem....CFC....workshops for these old fogies.....hmmmm.....don't know how exactly feel about this one yet...a lot of couples are used to this community being predominently filipino and are staisfied with are token caucasian couples singles and youth...so a workshop to to make these people aware of the other cultures....
maybe a workshop to make CFC aware of these other cultures "spiritual needs"....just cause i think if we come at them saying we want to show you that other cultures exist....they can see it like we're underestimating their intelligence....
which i know isnt the intention...
but i think focusing on the spiritual needs of non-filipinos may be a better workshop....
haha....thank you very much celeste.....
celestest the bestest
Image by FlamingText.com
man...that was longer than i intended it to be....thanks for including me into this blogger thing....i hope you know what youre getting yourselves into by having me in here haha...anyhow....
i'll wait for replies to my first few postings before any more of my opinion pieces are posted....
nice....well i think it works....ok i just did my best to catch myself up to the happenings in this blogger group (am i using that title in the right context Celeste?)...anyhow
first.....hahaha in reply to lisa hating on me and my email....the comment about non-filipinos seeing filipinos as NOT their peers in the secular world was a general statement made by a sociologist of the american non-filipino population....are there exceptions?....of course...there's yourself....there was kuya terry, there are those at a UCI campus.....so obviously there are exceptions to the generalization...but the thing is....you are a leader/servant....so was kuya terry...the diverse youth at UCI are members...but are their campus officers are non-filipino....if you dig deeper you'll find a short list of other non-filipinos amongst cfc, sfc anf yfc who are just members....but for most part of the non-filipinos who i have seen met and heard of in the US...are leaders or are led by non filipinos....
so my generalization isn't saying that non-filipinos make a conscious effort to say "i'm not joining this group cause these filipino leaders are not my peers" ...its more unconscious because what we see and are used to here in the US are white, black and latino leaders....filipinos, as well as vietnamese, laosian are third world country people....from the onset of our time here in the US filipinos were even labelled america's "little brown brothers"....we have always been seen as under the wing of the US ....as a people and country...so....again exceptions exist but not in high enough number to come close to voiding this generalization....
but know i hear you.....i still stand by my belief in this generalization...its a littel bit out there...but in the eyes of a sociologist...when co-mingled with how CFC works as a family ministry...the so called "success formula" i talked about in my email to Che....since we're top down....CFC being at the top but which i believe compared to yfc and sfc contains less educated persons....also less americanized........can you see where i'm coming from with this generalization atleast?
CFC...in reference to couples only here not CFC community on whole...filipino 3rd world...are there college graduates...yeah....are their doctors and lawyers, teachers....yeup....but most of the educated are within the sfc yfc ranks....most of the cultured are in sfc yfc.....so to put in a average white middle income family amongst a slew of middle high to low income, many times tagalog speaking, even when they speak english its broken, physically smaller, brown skin, coming from a third world country, bringing food that smells nothing like american food, inside joke telling in tagalog sometime not even to be interpreted, individuals...
what a challenge....so some one whos the majority in the US.....most likely educate, speaks clean english...who's peers are middle income, clean english speaking, white families....does this mean we have to kill what makes us filipinos...nahh
but we must be very mindful....strategic even in how we carry ourselves...non filipinos are more firgiving than i make them seem...as we see lisa is still with us...but unfortunately....in this community lis...you're the minority...
i think i beat this topic into the grown....i just wanted to further support the statement so as not to bring your beliefs in alignment with mine but rather to make clear on the basis of my belief ....
so yeah...
back to the problem at hand...
wow....this is just a test run for my technological behind butt...
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
that is GREAT! the diversity thing. it's very interesting, i definitely think that plays a part with all this. and i am all for the whole team, whoever it is, attending that diversity workshop first... those are the things we all need to be aware of.
"Young at heart" -Tony Bennett!! Tell me what Chris says. WOOHOOO!! Happy Ash Wednesdy. Happy Lenten Season! It is puuuurifyin tiiime. la la laaa have u finished reading my posts and emails yet? The heat is unbelievable, its SO HOT!! I've had a headache everyday for the past week. heard from the radio the heat is record breaking for this month.
as for defiining the problem, i know it's what we've been brainstorming, but how's this gona work exactly? all these ideas are great, but does that mean we'll have to wait until everyone gets together so we brainstorm again and then put it all together?
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
OKAY SO we decided that that exerpt in Jeff's email is a crucial part. i'll copy and paste it below. I think we can approach it more of our role as generally the push towards the basic vision. we don't have to be just some evangelization summer fling. it's a reality check. we can do the whole population count for each area, throw out numbers to help them grasp their area, challenge, yada yada yada, and then throw in the filipino segment, which will be the main "problem"? How bout a survey eh!! To better assess the area.
<<<<<< .....our leaders CFC SFC YFC must be on point....they got to increase on everything....love faith obedience scirpture reading leaders training etc....hearts have to truly be for God and servant attitudes must be held....they must also believe in diversity....they must see that CFC's call to evangelize go past filipinos....if there are no other groups they must see and understand and believe CFC's roll in rapid massive global evagelization amongst all peoples in america....we are the one who are called....they have to internalize this belief and challenge......what kinda of training is needed?.....again leaders must be on point....they must grow in love, faith, obedience, knowledge, wisdom as well as leadership skills.....they must know how to give and find answers....
it is said that to be a servant all one needs is to be willing....very true....but i believe to be a servant/leader willingness is only the beginning its the bare minimum....we are not running on the faith levels of the apostles and early christians....peter healed people with his shadow....the very essence of God saturated them so much that that alone caused people to repent and come to Christ....i'm not seeing anyone do that yet...can we?.....ofcourse... we were given the same holy spirit.....but are we there yet faithfully....not close...should this be discouraging...not at all.....this is another challenge....to continue to grow in faith.....but as we grow we must humble ourselves and see our shortcomings and compensate as we continue to work our faith and obedience....this is where being on point as leaders comes in....we need to have a worships played well and without interruptions....talks must be biblically correct and given with confidence....talkers must be sincere prepared and also practiced...leaders must go out their way to interact with and listen to members and participants....(ie camp leaders most of the time just do that...they don;t participate in dicsussion once in a while or sit with participants and what not) leaders need to learn how to read their members and participants and this comes with a heart that truly loves Jesus....so its all relative....leadership skills and just being a legit christian man or woman....if we can acheive this level of leadership....all thats left is the excuse that we are still not their peers in the secular world...but if they see that their questions skillfully answerd and their spiritual needs are met than this last excuse will most likely be voided out.....abling us to attract filipino and non filipino partipants and to also retain these new members... >>>>>>>
bababa daaa baba daaa ba daaaaa...
Fairy tales, can come truuue, itcouldhappentoyoooou....if you're young at heart....
For it's hard you will find, to be narrow of mind, if you're yooooung at heart...
You can go to extremes with impossible schemes, you can laugh in your dreams, fall apart at the scenes!!!
and life gets more exciting with each passing day
and love is either in your heart or on the waaay!
Don't you know it's worth every treasure on earth... to be young at heart...
For as rich as you aree, it's much better by far... to be young at heart..
and if you should survive to a hundred and five, think of all you'll derive out of being aliiive!
and here's the best part...
YOU have a head start...
if you are among the very yooooung at heart!
if you are among the very yooooung at heart!
Monday, March 03, 2003
i agree to many of the points in Jeff's email. he stated a lot of the problems, and some of the bigger points, especially on leaders staying on task. he thinks well critically and we need that, we need a wider span of perspectives. bc they won't be in black and white, and we don't necessarily have to approach this from one perspective. thats why i asked Jeff for his take- because -if YOU AND I agree to everything and come up with the same things, it's not going to work. and the thing is, though we have good arguments between us, we still do think very much a like, i'd say we manage to come up with pretty good theories with our minds together.. but it still stands- if we don't have a variety of perspectives, we won't be able to fully understand whats out there and what people are thinking and how to hit the problem.
we need to find the ones who want it and can say a lot of useful things and help develop useful ideas. we were saying the other day how it might be harder than we thought- but I'm starting to see God is really providing. it's important that we keep asking for guidance and for all the resources until our part is over. Let's keep praying that He leads us where He wants us to be.
question- do you want me to stop with my opinions until you catch up reading em? cuz i've written a lot today and you're being bombarded with lots of other ideas... and so i don't even know what your take is with everything i said!
OH what about CHRIS!! Chris from South America who moved there. You think he could help? I think you should yell at him hahah. He needs to get off his butt and get to work.
K I thought I was done haha.
Okay it's just like with you meeting up with the President and having lunch with her!! God like handed it to you. That is INCREDIBLE. To have access to her and endorse CFC over a cup of tea and grapes... okay Lisa you've got the perfect example here!!! Most work on the local level, working through the parishes, and are blessed when CFC's name is recognized in the city's paper or on the news. You can go straight to the President. that's beautiful!!
We've identified the "challenge" with Filipinos and their comfort zones... but I think it's starts before it even hits the people. more objectively. Let's start from the beginning. about the obviously bigger cultural challenge with the ministry itself... how unavoidable these things are when a group starts off. Of course the standards and visions of the ministry are the product of the social situatioins of the country- after all, that's how it started off right? Not Take the whole GK thing- started off with some high schoolers in YFC who wanted to do some community service for what's considered to be the lower class, a big population over there. That's how ANY group starts off... a problem or interest is identified among friends, goals established, bada boom you got a group. So unless the people make cultural adjustments, there will be more limitations to obtaining the vision/evangelizing. Being unaware of these limitations is only half the problem.. CFC SFC YFC USA- that's a lot of different paradigms, everyone has their own different world, they're in different stages in life,.... is there one that will be more effective in evangelizing in the USA? - i personally think so, but that's a whole other topic.
So I don't know how they roll in PI (you'd probably know better than me ha), but we have the basic idea with the differences. Sure, we can find the challenge within the leaders in each area who swear by the book maybe 'cause they haven't had much experience with service until the ministry... CFC USA has done decently with numbers... approaching like 10 years now? and God has provided lots of resources, but we're not pullin in by the thousands. still casting those fishing poles. i think we are having difficulty identifying with "massive and rapid evangelization" in the USA.
US resident population is like what? 290,388,357? somethin like that? (okay yeah thats from a website heeeeeheeee) And how many people do we have active? like lower than 1% of the population. Why? not enough workers? not enough time? not enough resounces? Why are there so many filipinos? because they were all filipno missionaries? because like attracts like? because they have comfort zones? aren't trying hard enough? they're stubborn? unwilling? they "dont get it"? C'mon now!! That's so played out. It's gota be something more. I think a huge factor for CFC is that they're not living at home. The support of the Catholic church can only be "part of the help" (for lack of better word usage) until we are be able to find a love for the areas where we have been commissioned (our country) and adjust and address the different social situations we are affected by- it's what the Catholic church is aware of and works with, it's a must! falls under being evangelitically sensitive. it's a social strategy.
We see these difficulties just in trying to find missionaries who speak different languages. Like remember how they were looking for spanish speaking youth to go to Spain or South America to hold a youth camp? (and when i was telling you, you told me people in Spain speak english so it was probably South America haha).. And that's just a tiny example of a DUH situation, can you imagine the complications of getting into the heart of the country? or even just the city. to learn the past, present, and possible future of a country in order to more adequately meet the needs of the people!
Take GK again for the example- it's big in the Philippines right, and I hear it's being established in a couple other third world countries like India. is there a big push for GK in the USA? "No, Not a BIG push." There are many reasons why- Bc the USA is looked up as the powerhouse of the world... bc the CFC have to be solid in order to establish GK... bc it'll be the CFC in the country to hold it down... a lot of the money trickles down from the USA to other "impoverished" countries... it's just not the logical thing to do... the Americans don't need it as much as the rest of the world... EH.. okay, fine BUT many Americans know that our country's population for people living poverty is climbing the charts.. the wealthiest 1% of our population controls 42% of the nation's wealth. Our nation has the greatest imbalance of wealth (i forget the term they use) in the western hemisphere. and that is pretty bad. thing is, no one cares unless the USA is his home. majority filipinos in america are financially stable, but survey shows it only takes an immigrant 3 generations down the line to end up just like any other American who's ancestors have been here for hundreds of years... and soon enough their community will begin experiencing and become more exposed to the same difficulties the rest of the country is going through. poverty line in '99 is $17,098 a year! and by age 35, 1/3 of US population spend a year in poverty! by age 65- more than 1/2, and by age 85- 2/3!! okay maybe you're saying "ok che thats a personal issue you got there!!" .. or put me on the list of people who are all about where they live... i could keep going, but im starting to blab... but you get my point with the massive amount of people who are unaware of all this because it doesn't affect their popuation. and the majority population filipinos in CFC are not a part of the general, larger population of the USA. i think ppl are unaware of the problems that affect our country- and in turn they are not concerned with how much we can affect the country!
We could take it from the city out into the country or the country straight into the city. it's wonderful because it's what the ministry envisions, it's all part of God's beautiful plan, building up His kingdom, proclaiming all these lands His.... CFC is all up in changing the face of their country, and it is INCREDIBLE! the things and the amont of things being accomplished. BUT what does that have to do with the rest of us? What are we doing wiht our own? We don't have the same social situations, the same problems... and if you asked, i think majority would say we have it all good. Many in this ministry see it as a simply beautiful family ministry attatched to parishes to provide us with a community. But if we don't/can't go further into it our lives as followers of Christ and start realizing where we're living, how far are we actually going? how can we make an impact if we dont want it. how can even want it if we dont know it. and how can we even know it if we dont love it. CFC USA should be pursuing the vision on the local level, state level, and federal level as well. we have to know our areas, know what our country needs. but all this means nothing if the vision is just to be another catholic ministry in the USA based at a parish and evangelizes at parishes. it's a start, yes. and maybe we haven't even gotten that far yet, but we have to expand our own expectations of how far we can go and how far God will take us.
K I gota go study for a test now!
Sunday, March 02, 2003
sorry i couldn't think of a cooler name for the blog!! i can always change it.
