Dominicus Humus: QUIZ FOR LAY MINISTERS

Friday, September 14, 2007

QUIZ FOR LAY MINISTERS

This year, the UPDATING Seminars end with a quiz designed to assess the participants attention and to "entertain." The quiz is now 30 items, answerable in 20 minutes, multiple choice. Fun starts when the Lay Ministers know that the passing score is 1. So far, all the Lay Ministers who took the exams passed!

The four batches that took the exams were topped by the following:
Cristy Agustin of St. John the Evangelist Parish, 29 points
Zeta Perez of St. Hyacinth Parish, 26 points
Divinia de Leon of Epiphany of the Lord Parish, 25 points
Nenita Cuison of St. John the Evangelist Parish, 23 points (out of 25)

Those who topped were given a full refund of their registration for the Updating-Seminar.

Vocation and Mission of LFC

Christifidelis Laici, the 1985 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World, speaks very eloquently about the formation of the lay faithful. According to this document, the laity should receive a complete and integrated formation, one which bears its fruit in every sphere of their existence and activity.

1) The spiritual formation of the laity – their continual growth in communion with Christ is nourished by the help to holiness offered by the Church.

2) Doctrinal formation – which will enable them to explain to the world the reason for their hope. Systematic catechesis is also necessary.

3) A proper formation of a social conscience, especially in the Church’s social teaching.

4) An integrated program of formation that cultivates the human values and skills necessary for the lay faithful’s apostolic activities.

God is the first formator of the laity. The Church for her part also takes part in forming the lay faithful through the ministry of teaching and celebration of the sacraments. The Lay Formation Center exists for this purpose.

The Lay Formation Center (LFC) was established by Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz and the Clergy of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, Philippines, for the formation "especially of the laity." It opened on the feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, the first Filipino Saint, who is a Filipino and lay person on September 28, 2005. Fr. Mario Dominic C. Sanchez was appointed its first Director. Since then, LFC has housed more than 500 groups from the entire country for retreats, recollections, conferences and seminars. Its location is about 7 kilometers from Dagupan City center (east) and 20 kilometers from the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag (west). It is only a kilometer away from Bonuan Tondaligan Beach (north).