Pili Parish celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday with SKK leaders

By Adrian Bulalacao

To celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity on June 12, the Parish of St. Raphael the Archangel, Pili, Camarines Sur, held a seminar on Community Organizing for SKK leaders on June 11 and the commissioning rites on June 12 at the 6:30am Mass. Thirty-one leaders attended both activities.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines designated Holy Trinity Sunday as BEC Sunday to emphasize the formation of basic ecclesial communities as a pastoral thrust. In Caceres, BECs are called Saradit na Kristyanong Komunidad (SKK). Julma M. Narvadez, of the Archdiocesan SKK team of Caceres, was the resource speaker.

According to Fr. Wilmer S. Tria, parish priest, these SKK leaders have been conducting prayer meetings for the past years amidst the pandemic and it is about time for them to learn more skills on leadership. He said the workshop aimed to equip leaders with skills at par with the skills of village chiefs or barangay captains.

The seminar focused on SKKs as a communion of communities and on SKK leaders as community organizers. The participants had workshop activities to assist them integrate more effectively with their communities. According to Narvadez, listening to the people is vital so the SKK leader can determine the best strategies to motivate the people to participate in SKK.

SKK leaders of St. Raphael the Archangel Parish received their mandate on Holy Trinity Sunday, the 4th BEC Sunday in the Philippines, from the parish priest, Fr. Wilmer S. Tria.

The participants commented that while they are immersed in the communities, they still need to know much information about them. In one activity, they were asked several questions pertaining to their respective barangays and they noted that they were unsure of some of their answers. To them, this was a challenge to get to know more about their barangays.

On the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, the leaders were invited to attend the Misa Pro Populo with Fr. Tria as celebrant. In his homily, he reminded them that the model of SKK is the Holy Trinity. He warned them about the fake kind of unity. ‘True unity is shared in a common vision; false unity in common selfish ambition,’ Fr. Tria said. After the post-communion prayer, the leaders made their oath-taking before the congregation and received their mandate from the Parish Priest.

As an act of appreciation, the members of the Eucharistic Ministers of Holy Communion served breakfast of a bottomless bowl of goto to the SKK leaders.