On March 24, 2019, the Board of the Filipino Catholic Community of Gouda (FCC-Gouda) and Surroundings headed by Amor van Os presented to the community a concise report for the year 2018 and the plans for 2019. Through this report, the FCC-Gouda Board aims to achieve transparency of all events and transactions for all its members.
FCC-Gouda 2018 Report of Finance & Activities
The Board Chairman, Amor van Os, began her report with the activities of the FCC-Gouda and surroundings in 2018.
Summary of FCC-Gouda Activities in 2018
Most importantly, Amor also reported the financial status for the year 2018, including sources of income and to where the money was spent. In 2018, FCC-Gouda had a lot of expenditures, including the fixed expenses for the monthly mass and church use. The Community also allotted financial support for its diaconal work and for all the other activities done last year. With the help of volunteers and generous donors, the activities in 2018 were realized.
FCC-Gouda 2019 Plans & Activities
The Chairman proceeded in reporting the activities and plans of FCC-Gouda and Surroundings to the Community for 2019. The monthly mass will continue every 4th Sunday.
In January 2019, the community has launched the Children´s Bible Corner (CBC). Its goal is to start the young members of the community to be actively involved in deepening their knowledge of God. Another service that started beginning of this year is the Detention Visitation, which is a part of the community’s diaconal work.
The Couple’s Blessing was initiated during the mass in February. FCC-Gouda plans to do this activity every year.
March marked the beginning of the annual Holy Retreat. On March 9, 2019, the FCC-Gouda and Surroundings sponsored and attended a Holy Retreat in Handel.
Some of the FCC-Gouda members are also doing a Pastoral Course on Initiation Sacraments with the modules on Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation (Initiatiesacrament: Module Doop, Eerste Communie en Vormsel als initiatie), for 5 consecutive Mondays starting from March 4 till April 1, 2019. This course will enable the members of FCCGouda and Surroundings to give information and hold seminars prior to the sacraments and to conduct these sacraments with the help of the priest during the FCC-Gouda Holy Mass.
Other planned activities for 2019 are presented below.
Aside from the above mentioned plans, Amor also announced that a Website Course for few members of FCC-Gouda and Surroundings is in the planning. This course will train interested participants in understanding at least the basics of website management, including the value of hosting and domain names. Furthermore, the Board is also busy with the application for ANBI (algemeen nut beogende instelling) status.
Members of the community expressed gratitude to all members of the FCC-Gouda Board after the reporting, which is the very first community report made. Community members were delighted to know the status of the Filipino Catholic Community of Gouda and Surroundings, especially the activities and financial standing. Some made valuable suggestions and further support for the betterment of FCC-Gouda. Some even complimented the works done by the whole team. Everyone left with appreciation and a happy heart.
The meeting was adjourned with happy faces and contented hearts.
After the successful launching of the Children Bible Corner (CBC) last month, the Filipino Catholic Community of Gouda (FCC-Gouda) and Surroundings commenced the blessings of couples last February 24, 2019. For starters, the community leaders aim to have the Couples’ Blessing ceremony every year in the month of February. The primary purpose of having Couples’ Blessings is to ask God’s strengthening of relationships, marriages, and parenting in each family belonging to the community.
Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe prayed over the couples of the FCC-Gouda & Surroundings for God’s blessings and that may each couple’s love and unity be strengthened with Christ Jesus in their midst.
Meanwhile, the CBC continues with Maryjane Streefland-Osigan and Lovella van der Weiden-Modillas leading the children’s activities of the day and assisted by Lennart van der Weiden. In line with the Sunday’s gospel sharing and homily, the children also get to learn more about God’s love and forgiveness.
Furthermore, Fr. Marcel also prayed over for the sick members of the community. He called the people who are or have members of their families who are sick and anointed them with oil. Let us all include sick members of our community in our prayers.
January 27, 2019 (Sunday) is the 4th Sunday of the month, and, therefore, is the first Sunday celebration of the year for the Filipino Catholic Community of Gouda (FCC-Gouda) & Surroundings. On this day, the members of the community happily gathered together to welcome the year with a fully packed agenda of the day.
The one-hour service started with early arrivals of church members, greeting one another and welcoming back two of the community’s valued priests– Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe and Fr. Mark Robin Hoogland as concelebrants of this Sunday service.
Fr. Mark Robin and Fr. Marcel
One of the highlights of today’s Sunday activity was the ‘launch’ or start of the FCC-Gouda’s Children Bible Corner (CBC), an initiative to also get the young ones actively involved and get started in deepening their knowledge of God.
Children reading today’s gospel in Luke 4:18-20– “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Officiated by Fr. Mark, the community was also delighted to witness the Confirmation of Pascal Benjamin Hendrikus Kroeze. The confirmation ceremony comes in four acts: (1) the laying on of hands, a biblical gesture by which the gift of the Holy Spirit is invoked; (2) reciting of the creed to profess one’s faith; (3) the anointing of Chrism, which signifies that the person being confirmed is now sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit; and (4) receiving the cross, which symbolizes the person’s Confirmation.
Laying on of hands on Pascal with his partner, Eve, by his sidePascal recites the Creed to profess his faith and renew his baptism vows.The Annointing of Chrism (consecrated oil): Fr. Mark Robin dips his thumb in the Chrism and makes a sign of the cross on the forehead of Pascal, signifying that he is being sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Mark gives Pascal a cross to signify Pascal’s confirmation.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the children were all enthusiastic in meeting the other kids, sitting face to face, and knowing each other by name. Above all, through CBC, the children get the chance to be heard as well as to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences.
The children listen to the story of creation, read by Isabelle Hameete and followed by Daphne Streefland, two of the four CBC volunteers of the day. The other two were Lovella Modillas and Myra Colis.Time for writing and colouring!
For the four volunteers helping out with this first CBC, they too find it delightful to have the children say something about who God is and why they are in the church. To sum up the brief but delightful conversations, CBC coordinator of the month, Myra Colis, taught the children an English song called, “My God is so Big” with the following lyrics saying, “my God is so big, so strong and so mighty… there’s nothing my God can not do.”
Attendees of the first ever Children Bible Corner (CBC) of FCC-Gouda showing their works, Bjorn reading Luke 4:18-20, and ending up their presentation with the song, “My God is so Big.”
As usual, the mass ended by greeting the birthday celebrants of the month, followed by the fellowship & salu-salo time to complete the day’s provision of food not only for the mind and spirit but also for the body.
Contributor: Susan Horn | Photo credits: Susan Horn, Kathy Grimme, Lovella Modillas
Before the year ends, the Filipino Catholic Community in Gouda (FCC-Gouda) and the Filipino Catholic Community in Dordrecht (FCC-Dordrecht) joined forces and have successfully completed the first of many more upcoming leadership and organizational trainings to help the community move forward. Members of the Board, leaders or officers and future leaders as well as active members from both communities joined together on November 24, 2018 at the O.L.V. Hemelvaartkerk in Gouda for the 5-hour training on transformational leadership.
Led and facilitated by Myra Zymelka-Colis, Content & Concept Developer at E3 Data Intelligence Services (e3dis) and the Founding Chairperson of MABIKAs Foundation-The Netherlands, the interactive training focused more on understanding the WHYs, WHATs and HOWs of the organization and clarifying what the FCC communities are here for (vision, mission and goals).
What further added value to the training is the presence and support of Father Marcel Abouchi, of whom FCC will always be grateful for for his commitment and dedication in helping us meet the needs of the church and community members.
Seven (7) of the participants are from FCC-Dordrecht and eleven (11) are from FCC-Gouda. Apparently, the 7/11 attendees find the training workshop valuable and were all happy to end the day with positive and constructive feedback such as follows:
“A useful day with lots of information on how to improve, maintain, give info, grow and connect with people.”
“The content of the workshop meets the expectations and is spelled out. Presentation is very well, clear and engaging. The atmosphere was nice, informal yet adequate for learning.”“I’ve learned a lot from this training. It has given me a direction on where we are going as an organization. The training also helped me to realize what our vision, mission and goals are for the community as well as the activities that we need to focus onto to achieve our goals.”“The workshop was really worth attending. I’ve learned a number of things that I’m quite positive will greatly help improve how we as Board Members run our organization/ foundation. I’ve always been looking for ways to “professionalize” our organization and bring it to a higher level somehow, and our trainer & facilitator has given us insights and suggestions on how to achieve that.”Group discussion on spiritual maturityGroup discussion on time managementGroup discussion on human resourcesGroup discussion on fundraising“The speaker/facilitator is knowledgeable of the topic. The informal atmosphere enables us to openly speak our minds.”“The training is very informative. It opened my eyes to new ideas and also value what we are already doing as a group in the church. We learned a lot of ways to improve; there’s more room for improvement.”The FCC-Gouda TeamThe FCC-Dordrecht Team
“Thank you, Myra, for the educational and spiritual leadership training. It has enlarged my mission as a Christian and as a member of FCC. It was worth listening to every word.”
The prayer warriors of the Filipino Catholic Community (FCC) of Gouda & Surroundings have joined hands together with Our Lady of Guadalupe Ambassadress (OLGA) on October 14, 2018 at O.L.V Hemelvaartkerk to pray the living Rosary, the main purpose of which is to help restore and strengthen faith in the hearts of people.
FCC-Gouda & Surrounding would like to thank the OLGA team led by Ms. Evelyn Mendoza from Rotterdam for joining us in making this Living Rosary prayer event a success. We give back all the glory, praise and thanks to God!
The Filipino Catholic Community of Gouda (FCC-Gouda) & Surroundings will hold a Living Rosary prayer gathering on October 14, 2018 at the O.L.V. Hemelvaartkerk in Gouda. It’s a 3-part service from 1pm to 5pm. Interested members of the community, friends and families are all welcome to join in prayer. The program is as follows
PART 1
13:00 –13:30 Registration of participants
13:00 – 14:00 Overview/orientation and procession (Song; On this Day)
14:00 – 15:00 Sharing spiritual experiences and healing testimonies (Song: Come Holy Spirit)
15:00 – 15:05 Divine Mercy 3 o’clock prayer
PART 2
15:05 – 15:25 Rosary Prayer
Every participants are invited to offer a lighted candle, or that depends on your number of intentions. Every personal intention means 1 lighted candle.
15:25 – 15:40 Triduum Novena
15:40 – 16:00 Praising veneration of Mother Mary’s portrait
PART 3
16:00 – 16:50 Get together fellowship (shared Snacks)
16:50 – 17:00 Closing time and cleaning up
Reminders:
1. Every participants must be bring bunch of flowers for the flower offering portion.
2. Candles are available on the church but prepare 1 euro for each candle as a donation
