Holy Child and St. Martin Episcopal Church Daly City California

Symposium focuses on book by The Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara, Asian missioner of the Episcopal Church.

 

DALY CITY, Calif. -

“Like Milkfish in Brackish Water ” is the book and the motto of the Filipino American Christianity symposium to be led by Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministry with The Episcopal Church.

Clergy and lay leaders any religious affiliation serving or interested to learn about Filipino community building are welcome to participate in the event from 12 noon to 12 noon January 27-28 at Holy Child & St. Martin’s Episcopal Church here. The event will feature a presentation and open prayer rally. It will raise discussion about Vergara’s book and how it may help understand the Filipino American ministry. Dinner will be provided. The book’s introduction attempts to explain why the Filipino American Ministry deserve attention:

 “Filipinos are some of the earliest, largest, most educated and upwardly mobile immigrant groups to settle in America. There is a special relationship between the Philippines and the United States that dates back at the turn of the 20th century when America, still emerging as the world’s superpower, took Philippines under the shadow of its wings. Filipino American culture is unique in the sense of its interconnectedness. Philippine geography is in the Asia but its base culture and traditions are markedly multicultural, with dominant Spanish and North American influences,” said the introduction.

 The ministry is compared to “bangus” or the milkfish, which “survive in fresh water and in salty water but thrives best in brackish water.” “As servant of Christianity, Filam Ministry must learn from the ways of the milkfish. It must learn to take this ministry of “both and,” the gift of prophetic accommodation. Filam clergy and faithful must become a ministers of reconciliation, a ministry bestowed by the Master-Fisherman who wishes all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.”

“Rev. Vergara’s book talks about re-thinking and re-visioning of Filipino ministry in the context of multiethnic, multicultural American Church and Society,” said Rev. Leonard Oakes, pastor of Holy Child & St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. “Participants coming from distant places may be eligible for free hotel accommodations. Meals are free.”

 Holy Child & St. Martin’s Episcopal Church is on 777 Southgate Ave, Daly City, CA 94015. For more information,

contact: (650) 991-1560 or email revleonardoakes@gmail.com.

 This is an excerpt from Philippines News editorial Cherie M. Querol Moreno

 

The Episcopal AsiaMerica Ministries

in Partnership with the Episcopal Asian Ministry Council

and the Filipino Convocation

and in collaboration with Holy Child and St. Martin Episcopal Church

welcome you to

A BOOK FORUM & SYMPOSIUM ON FILIPINO AMERICAN MINISTRY

By the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

Missioner for Asiamerica Ministry

January 27-28, 2012

Holy Child and St. Martin Episcopal Church

777 Southgate Avenue, Daly City, CA 94015

Contact Persons:

The Rev. Bayani Rico, President of EAM Council :                                                                            Email : rector_ascension@sbcglobal.net

The Rev. Leonard Oakes (650) 534-5831/email: RevLeonardOakes@gmail.com

 

SCHEDULE:

JANUARY 27:

NOON:     Check in

Lunch at 12:00 (for those arriving early at Holy Child and St. Martin Daly City)

1:45 P.M. – Session 1: Vision and Purpose of the Book

and Demographics of Filipino Americans (Introductory chapters)

2:45 P.M. – Break

3:00 P.M. – Session II: Philippine Religious History

4:00 P.M. – Break

4:15 P.M. – Session III: Filipino Culture and American Assimilation Process

5:15 P.M. – Open Forum; Announcement on Worship

5:45 P.M. – Break to prepare for Liturgical Service (Choir rehearsal)

6:15 P.M  – Word from Bishop Marc Andrus

6:30 P.M. – Filipino American Eucharist

7:30 P.M. – Dinner & Entertainment

 

JANUARY 28:

8:00 A.M. – Breakfast

8:45 A.M. – Session IV: How to do a Filipino American Ministry Probe

( ASilicon ValleyExample)

9:45 A.M. – Break

10:00 A.M. – Session V: “Seven Sneezes to Filipino American Revival”

11:00 A.M. – Break

11:15 A.M. – Quo Vadis: Where Do we Go from Here?

12:15 – Lunch and Safe Travel Back Home