The Filipino Ministry had a quiet start
when a group of Filipino Catholics started
the Block Rosary communal prayer
practice, whereby a statue of the Blessed
Virgin Mary was brought to different
homes to stay for a week. Devotion was
shown via the recitation of the Holy
Rosary around the Blessed Virgin’s statue.
This soon grew in popularity so much so
that devotees from other non-Filipino
communities joined in. Occasionally, a family would request that the statue of the
Blessed Mother stay with them for two
to three weeks!
In December 2004, Fr. Vic Panaligan and
Fr. Felicito Baybay, two Filipino priests
from the St. Jude and Immaculate Heart
parishes respectively, started the
Simbang Gabi, a traditional Filipino
Blessed Trinity’s
Filipino
Ministry
by Dr. Emilia Pacariem
practice of a series of dawn
masses for the nine days
leading up to Christmas Day.
In this case, they held the
masses in four different
parishes in Marion County
with the last mass being
celebrated at Blessed Trinity
Church. Out of the nine days
of Holy Masses, one is
designated as a celebration for all the Filipino Ministries in the Diocese of Orlando
with Bishop John Noonan as the main celebrant.
In 2009, when Fr. Roy Eco was assigned as Parochial Vicar at Blessed Trinity, he
introduced another devotion which is very dear to the Filipino Catholics, the First
Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To this day, this devotion continues
with other ministries joining. After the 6:30 P.M. Mass, a fellowship gathering
follows at the Parish Hall. Even after Fr. Roy was transferred to Blessed Sacrament
Parish in Clermont, he still made time to drive to
Ocala every first Friday to celebrate the Holy
Mass with us!
Bishop Noonan, Simbang Gabi 2017