Kenneth Ramos and Bayanihan News – On the last Sunday of Advent, Chaplain for the Filipino faithful in the Sydney Catholic Diocese Fr. Nards Mercene gave his blessing to every birthday celebrant during the monthly Filipino mass and went on to celebrate Christmas with some Filipino faithful .
The long serving chaplain was quite happy to find members of the Filipino Catholic Organisation or Filcos of Bankstown quite organised and ready for their celebration of Christmas at the St Therese community hall in Lakemba with many in their celebratory Christmas get ups.
Christmas colour of green and red and piping of white characterised not only the décor of the venue but even the casual get ups of everyone, not to mention the holiday cheer pictured in each face.
And as the photo in this write up shows, the singing of Christmas carol commenced and went on as if the singers had missed this type of Christmas singing here in Australia. Perhaps still etched in everyone’s imagination are past Christmases in one’s childhood in the Philippines, with the obligatory yearly Christmas carolling in the neighbourhood.
Organisers of the small community organisation Filipino Catholic Organisation (FILCOS) of Bankstown were quite excited and the meeting had a good turnout .
Based in the inner suburb of Lakemba, the group rarely rate a mention in Philippine community newspapers in Sydney. But with much humility, the group had been meeting encouraging one another and this day was a special one throughout among the several meetings throughout the year.
Pressures of work schedule and tending to mostly young families in the inner Western suburbs seem to be the reason why not many in the Filipino community in Sydney heard f them.
But thanks to Christmas, the FILCOS Bankstown group finally was able to hold the affair, with even even with special guest in Fr Nards Mercene to give blessing and encouraging word,
Notable of those who performed during the Christmas program were the Ave Maria Choir and a group of Hawaiian hula dancer from the Visayan Association of Australia or VAA.
Filcos Bankstown members include Joey Orleans, Willy San Gabriel, Pete Enriquez, Adel Oblea, Philip Castillo, Ruffy de Vega, Mila Orleans, Mercy Valix, Beth San Gabriel, Maribel Newton, Lorna Enriquez, Margot de Vega, Cecile Calimbas, Malyn Andres-Chun, Francia Oblea & Ligaya Castillo