Love in Action
If you would like to know more about Love in Action including how to get involved, please leave a message here.
National Project for 2022
Every year, the LIA runs a national project to raise funds for a beneficiary proposed by the National LIA Core Group and approved by the CFCA National Council. For 2022, the funds we raise will go to the Missionaries of God’s Love (MGL) for the benefit of the following initiatives:
- MGL Manila Mission – to provide relief to poor families in the form of:
- feeding programs through their community pantries
- providing school supplies for their scholars
- MGL Australia – various opportunities, such as:
- Sponsoring a seminarian
- Immersion opportunities for CFCA members at MGL mission centres in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin
National Raffle 2022
We had our National Raffle draw at the CFCA National Conference in Melbourne in April. We sold 7,781 of a possible 10,000 raffle tickets. The net proceeds from the national raffle was $30,492.27. LIA is in awe of the generosity of everyone who supported this cause, and we pray that the Lord blesses you more. We gave away 25 consolation prizes of $50 each and 10 major prizes of $300 each. These were in the form of gift or prepaid cards. We had one grand prize winner of $3,000. Everyone was surprised, including the winner himself, when the name drawn was our very own CFCA National Director, bro Edwin Aguirre. Bro Edwin graciously and generously donated his prize back to LIA for a project in his hometown of Bohol to help build homes for those affected by a typhoon. We honour Bro Edwin for his great generosity.
Meeting Fr Ken Barker MGL
Fr Ken Barker MGL with Ric & Glorious
My wife, Glorious, and I had a meeting with Fr Ken Barker earlier this year when he visited Brisbane for the launch of his new book. The meeting was meant to discuss the details of our partnership with MGL for our 2022 LIA National Project. Scheduling the meeting was highly unlikely as Fr Ken had a full schedule and so did Glorious and I. Somehow the Lord made a way and we understood this better after the meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to share this brief moment with Fr Ken as it was a powerful testimony of the Holy Spirit being at work. Without hearing any details from us, Fr Ken started with expressing gratitude that LIA chose MGL to be the beneficiary of this year’s national project. He shared to us their regular struggles that their young congregation experience in sustaining the cost of sending their seminarians to university. Fr Ken told us that he had been praying for the Lord’s providence as the university fees were due soon and he knew they did not have enough funds to cover them. Then here comes LIA and he felt that the Lord has answered his prayers through our community. Glorious and I came to that meeting prepared to propose that we split the proceeds into three: MGL Manila, MGL Seminarians and MGL Darwin (for indigenous and prison ministries). After hearing Fr Ken’s sharing, we asked him where their greatest need was at that time. Fr Ken said their Manila Mission had a lot of regular donors and their Darwin Mission receives sufficient support and assistance from the Diocese. Their greatest need at that time was in sustaining their Seminarians program. Together with the QLD LIA team, we prayed for the Holy Spirit to help us discern and we came up with a split that seemed reasonable and Spirit-led. LIA pledged $25,400 to the Seminarians program and the remaining $5,092.27 to MGL Manila. The exchange rate favours us with this split as $5k is equivalent to almost PHP200k, which we all agreed can still go a long way in Manila. These donations have now been made to MGL Australia and MGL Manila. Fr Ken sends his prayers to CFCA and all our works. He asked that CFCA members in Melbourne consider visiting the seminarians there as their other need right now is companionship and fellowship. The priests and seminarians cannot accept donations in cash or in kind as they have a vow of poverty, but they will appreciate the visit to help with homesickness.
Updates from the MGL Manila Mission
Fr Ken Barker sent us some photos of their Community Pantries that feed the poorest of the poor at their Manila Mission at St Benedict Parish. They regularly run a 9-week feeding program for underweight children aged 2 - 12 years old. MGL seeks the help of the parents of these children in helping cook, prepare and distribute the food. MGL Manila is also very active in the formation of the youth in their mission areas. Some photos below show the participants of their Life in the Spirit Seminars for teenagers.
