Pentecost Celebration of Filipino Community - Macau

The past several months have seen four groups of Filipinos undergo the Catholic Renewal Experience for Migrants (CREM) whose main objective is for migrants to have a common spiritual journey with God and experience a renewal of their faith within the migrant community.

The 1st batch was organized by the Pastoral Team and most of the participants were members of different ministries. Batch 1 was then challenged to organize and invite participants to the next CREM seminar and thus the pattern was set for succeeding seminars.

On May 31st, Pentecost Sunday, which would have been organized for Batch 5, saw instead the coming together of past CREM participants and other ministries in the spirit of camaraderie and community. Committees were formed to handle the secretariat, logistics, technical requirements and prepare snacks and games.

For weeks, members from different batches prepared songs, dances and drama that had a central theme of Balik Ugat: Kapatirang Naglalakbay. Games that enabled more than 160 CREM participants to get to know each other better were organized and everyone shared in the laughter.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who came all the way from the Archdiocese of Lipa, Batangas, was the keynote speaker during this event. Dr. Arnold Monera, Professor of Biblical Studies at the School of Christian Studies, Macau Inter-University Institute, gave a talk on breaking the “vicious cycle” of poverty, corruption and negative practices by transforming this to a “virtuous cycle” of prosperity, hope, fairness and more positive values by every Filipino.