OG NEWS 2

OG NEWS Official Publication of Open Gathering 2010

Issue 2

OPEN YOUR HEART You can fill this world with love, if you open your heart and share gifts not just among friends, but with strangers as well.

Guided by this principle, volunteers Claudia Menchavez and Josephine Matiga, ask Filipinos that have long resided in Auckland or are permanent residents in New Zealand to bring a gift or gifts for new migrants during the advance birthday celebration of Jesus Christ in OG: Open Gathering on December 19, 2010, 11am in Good Shepherd Parish, Balmoral, New Zealand.

Gift giving is one of the highlights of this year’s yuletide celebration of sharing, giving and caring. Menchavez requests for donors to wrap items that may be useful to those who have arrived in New Zealand during the past two years and have few friends or may have left behind their families in the Philippines. Matiga asks families to bring toys that will put smiles on the faces of children.

They agree to the Christian precept that “it is in giving that we receive.”

Bro Mel B Libre, Lead Servant of TawagAwit, organized the first OG in 2007 inspired partly by the movie, “Pay It Forward” as well as the idea that Joseph and Mary were strangers in Bethlehem, very much like migrants in a new country, who needed hospitality, shelter and food.

OG will treat new migrants with prayers, songs, food, games and gifts.

This year’s host is the Auckland Catholic Filipino Chaplaincy.

Page 1 of 5

Ina and Kayth to sing in OG Their bonding has grown through the years, and so have their vocal harmony. Ina & Kayth have performed in social functions in the Filipino community in New Zealand, but it was in last year’s Waitakere Christmas Festival in Parrs Park, Oratia, Auckland that they gave Kiwis a taste of their sweet-and-innocent pop sensibility.

Since then, the girls not only have grown a few inches taller, but also enhanced their musicality by taking formal piano lessons, joining singing groups and dancing in festivals. Of late, the two participated as dancers in the KBNZ Sinulog Dance Troupe that bagged the grand prize in the Auckland International Carnival. Ina was featured as the lead dancer in the winning performance.

Influenced by such groups as Destiny’s Child and Pussycats Dolls, Ina & Kayth usually give a youthful spin to current hits adding choreography they concoct between themselves. The pop duo hopes to record an original material soon.

For this Christmas, Ina & Kayth are excited to perform for new migrants invited to a genuine yuletide celebration. “It’ll be special for we’re dedicating our song for the little baby Jesus,” they chorused in harmony.

Page 2 of 5

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OG

To celebrate the nativity season, you can make a difference in people’s lives, if you really want to.

OG: Open Gathering allows you to open the door of your heart to new migrants, brethren who come to a new place with a few acquaintances, without family, and maybe without a job for the moment.

Page 3 of 5

Here are a few guidelines: Identify a new migrant. The person setting next to you may have arrived of late in the foreign country you are residing or are a citizen.

Get to know a bit of the individual, and tell him about what he/she will be doing during Christmas.

Invite the migrant. If you can’t invite him/her to your home, there is a venue where you can make him/her at home as well in OG: Open Gathering. This year, it is on Sunday, December 19, 2010 starting at 11:00am at the Good Shepherd Parish, Balmoral, Auckland. Of course, you need to get his/her contact number.

Fetch the invitee. The migrant may want to go, but he/she doesn’t have a vehicle nor is he/she familiar with the roads. Tell him/her that you will fetch him/her on that day.

Wrap a gift. The essence of Christmas is giving (as Jesus Christ made the ultimate gift of giving His life to save us). Look for an item that is useful to new migrants, like canned goods, utensils, shirts, etc, and wrap it. Your gift will be distributed among invitees to OG. If you can, wrap as well a toy for the kids.

Cook a dish. Wouldn’t it be great if you cooked your favourite dish or dessert and share these with your brethren during OG? In addition to filling the hearts of invitees, you will fill their stomachs as well.

Tell your friends about OG. You can tell your friends about the Open Gathering; and ask them to do the tasks listed above as well. They’ll be thankful that you did.

OG: Open Gathering is like giving hospitality to the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus) as they knock on the door of homes in Bethlehem. OG is doing a good deed to those in need in this season of love, peace and goodwill.

OG is about you giving, sharing and caring for strangers.

Come to OG.

Page 4 of 5

OG:

Open Gathering

AUCKLAND CATHOLIC FILIPINO CHAPLAINCY Hosted by:

The Auckland Catholic Filipino Chaplaincy is one of the few ethnic chaplaincies in the Catholic Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand. The ACFC operates as a quasi-parish community based at the Good Shepherd Parish in Balmoral, Central Auckland. As a quasi-parish, it offers religious services such as regular Sunday Masses in Pilipino, weekly Wednesday Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, fortnightly Bible apostolate, monthly devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, house to house rosary and various devotional practices to the Blessed Virgin.

The management of the Chaplaincy is a collaboration between the Chaplain and the ACFC Pastoral Council. The Pastoral Council is made up of ten members who are elected from the Filipino Community every two years and of representative from each of the different Catholic groups and associations in the Filipino community who are appointed or elected by their respective groups. As strategy for integration, the Chaplaincy is represented at the Good Shepherd Parish Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council.

MISSION STATEMENT: The mission statement is to collaborate with the Bishop of Auckland and the Chaplain in the pastoral care of the Filipinos in the Auckland Diocese and to assist them in their journey towards maturity in Faith and towards integration into the local church and New Zealand society.

ACFC CHAIRMAN: Ma. Consuelo del Castillo CHAPLAIN: Fr. Ruben Elago, MSP

Organized by:

TawagAwit, a Catholic Ministry spreading

God’s Word through music and other acts of love

Support OG: Open

Gathering

Email: tawagawit@gmail.com Page 5 of 5