FOCUS ON:

CYAin the University of Santo Tomas

) (Above) Staffers of our University Belt Area: From left, Tisha Colayco, Tetel Fernandez, Raoul Roncal, Gil Galeste, Chito Morales, Jon Escoto, and Renee Punzal.

c

(Left) Our U-Belt base at the University of Santo Tomas.

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) was founded about 380 years ago by the Dominican Fathers. A survivor of all the tumultuous events of our national history, today the University serves more than 118,000 students in all levels. Its 15 colleges offers a wide selection of courses'. It also has the distinction of being the only pontifical university in the Philippines. Numerous student organizations are present on campus. One of them is Christ's Youth in Action. CYA has had a long and memorable history in UST, beginning in the la te 70's with the Ilaw ng Panginoon Prayer Group. Two other CYA-affiliated groups ~ere formed later: the Thomasian Christian Brotherhood, and the Association of Women in Theos. In 1988 these three groups merged to form CYA-UST.

c

Continued on page 2

Awakening Others To God's Love Hi, my name is Emil Garana, Jr., and I'm a junior B.S. Biology student at the Far Eastern University, I grew up in a religious family and attended a Catholic school where I was involved in many religious activities. But I never took my faith seriously. Before I joined CYA, I never thought of serving the Lord as a priority in life. For me life was full of choices: I could go to college, earn a degree, get rich and famous. Then I would serve the Lord.

When Ijoined CYA, I came to know the Lord and to love Him. I was impressed by the way other CYA brothers and sisters would show their zeal by evangelizing other people. I asked myself, "How can I show my love for the Lord?" Last summer (1990) I spent my vacation in my hometown. When I saw my childhood friends again, I was

Continued on page 2

t

f

J j

J

2 CYA in UST (from page 1) About 100 students now regularly attend the weekly prayer meetings. The group continues to attract new members: Around 300 came to an evangelistic event called the "Happy Hour". By the end of this semester, more than 80 students would have completed the Christian Life Series. What accounts for the rapid growth of CYA-UST? "1 think students see their need for God," says Tisha Colayco, a CYA staffer, "They are looking for friendship and companionship with other Christians. Also, through classroom presentations, our members are able to reach out to other students. This zeal among our members accounts for our growth in numbers." CYA-UST also gets a lot of support from the school faculty and administration. Two very supportive faculty members worth mentioning are

Awakening

Ms. Belen Pereras and Mrs. Norma Calaguas. For several years they have provided the "initial push" needed by their students to join CYA. In closing, let's hear from some of their members: "CYA taught me how to pray. I began to really understand the deep meaning of prayer and the importance of communicating with God." "Being with CYA is like heaven on earth. The joy of praising and serving the Lord with people who have decided to make the Lord number one in their lives is beyond comparison." "Following the Lord is not all walking on a straight road. Sometimes there are mountains to climb and rivers to cross, but the Lord has blessed me with a companion (CYA) to make my journey an enjoyable one." •

(from page 1)

troubled that many of them were now drug-users or alcoholics. I was challenged to love them the way the Lord loves them, and to help them turn to the Lord. Every summer we also celebrate our barangay fiesta, part of the festivities being a gambling session to raise funds for the barangay. Incidentally, my mother is a barangay counselor, and together we opposed the gambling venture. In one of our barangay assemblies, I was gi ven a chance to speak in behalf of the youth. I told them bravely that we opposed any illegal acti vities that would poison the minds oftheyouth. Besides, we will be the future leaders, and we

don't approve of such degrading and sinful activities. These words moved the elders of the community to change their minds about the proposed gambling. I have had many other opportunities to share with other young people about the Lord. I would begin by describing what God had dorie for me, then I would convince them to commit their lives to the Lord. It is like the movie "Awakenings"-for a long time they were asleep and never knew the love of God. I thank the Lord that He has made me an instrument to awaken some of my peers to the loving presence of God .•

LETTERS FROM MINDANAO Davao. "Atthis time I am working with some students in the University of Mindanao. They have been together for sometime. It is somewhatlike a barkada. Their basic motivation is good. They would like to serve the Lord the best they can, yet it's a long road to disdplesliip. As I entrust all these things to the Lord I have seen some steps forward made in their lives. Please pray for faith in their hearts. I believe the CYA-Mindanao Conference will be a great time for them to experience their faith as Christians and the love of Jesus in their lives." - Brian Mahoney Iligan. "We have just finished giving the Christian Life Series (CLS) to three different parishes in the Diocese of lligan. We have 147newmembers. CYA-Iligan now has 275 members, actively fighting the fight of faith here. Really the Lord is doing wonders in lligan. As of this writing, six parishes are now influenced by CYA culture.... With this, we still hope to win more ground for the Lord in the days to come." - Doodz Dalangin Zamboanga. Five brothers and sisters from Iligan City helped to conduct a CLS in Zamboanga last June. As a result, 15 new members were added to CYA-Zamboanga. Joevic Climaco reports: "Since our commitment ceremony last July 14, we have been experiencing a more intensified spiritual battle, but we're making the best use of the spiritual weapons provided by Christ. Believe it or not, we are now on our seventh week in the CLS, and from the original 47 participants, 35 are still continuing. The outcome clearly shows a spiritual hunger among the youth of Zamboanga."

3

((~~N~e~w~s ~Bi~ts~] MISSION

11TH ANNIVERSARY COMING SOON

TEAM TO BRUNEI

(Right) Gil and Mike with same men at a Crossroads Retreat. Seated at Mike's left is Fr. Cornelius Sim.

Gil Galeste led our first CYA International Mission Team to Brunei last August. His team (composed of Renee Punzal, Tetel Fernandez and Mike Munarriz) accepted the invitation of Fr. Cornelius Sim, currently the only priest in Brunei, to lead two households for men and women. They gave a number of evangelistic and leadership-training talks, music workshops, and conferred with Fr. Sim about the possibility of. CYA helping their youth in a more regular way. MANY THANKS TO VOLUNTEERS CYA is blessed with a number of F""\generous brothers and sisters who, in bne way or another, have set aside a portion of their time to work as volunteers. Their services range from leading prayer meetings in their campuses, to handling administration and logistics. Because of their help, we in CYA were able to accomplish more than our resources would normally allow. Many thanks to: Carlo Estagle, Bless Ravela, Rhowie de Guzman, Sahlee Guerta, Gherie Pingol, and Irene Lanuza. C

common with other brothers in The Servants of the Word. Their promises to God correspond to the traditional evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Last August, Rogel Plata and Jake Yap made such lifelong promises to the Lord. Please pray that our brothers will remain faithful to the commitments they have made. VISIT TO LOS ANGELES On their way home from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Rogel and Jake made their lifelong commitments, they visited members of "Couples for Christ" in Los Angeles. They experienced the tremendous love and hospitality of their brothers and sisters in Christ there. Rogel and Jake also shared about the mission of CYA to a number of Filipino prayer communities in the LA area. Many who heard them responded generously with financial gifts and pledges. In the same trip, our brothers also explored the possibility of CYA serving the Filipino youth in LA in the near future.

With great joy and gratitude to God the CYA family will once more celebrate its aimiversary-eleventh so far-this November 17. The whole-day affair will be held at the Immaculate Conception Academy, San Juan, Metro Manila. His Excellency, Bishop Ted Bacani will celebrate the Eucharist in the morning, followed by a prayer meeting in which popular Catholic evangelist Bo Sanchez will be guest speaker. The afternoon will be marked by entertainment, and a concluding session led by CYA Director Rogel Plata. CYA-MINDANAO OCTOBER

Our CYA groups in Mindanao are growingfast! This is the over-all picture we get from their leaders' reports. Partly in response to this, and partly as a continuing training and formation program to our leaders and members, CYA will conduct its 3rd CYAMindanao Conference in Cagayan de Oro City from October 21-27. We will feature this Conference in our next Action Update.

Special Prayer Requests 1. Please pray for the CYAMindanao Conference (October 2127) in Cagayan de Oro: That more young people will deepen their commitment to the Lord, and that youth leaderstherewill receivetraining to build up their local CYA groups.

LIFELONG COMMITMENT Few people know that many of the male CYA Staffers are members of The Servantsofthe Word, a lay brotherhood of men engaged in an umber of apostolic and missionary services. For the sake of loving God more, and greater availability to serve His people, these men have chosen to remain single for the rest of their lives, and to live in

c

Rogel and Jake (partly hidden) with some members of Couples fur Christ - Los Angeles

CONFERENCE IN

2. Please pray also in thanksgiving for our 11 th Anniversary Celebration on November 17: That the CYA Family will be even more strengthened to fulfill our commission by the Lord to reach the youth.

4 IN ALL THINGS

GOD WORKS FOR GOOD evangelize our families and lead them closer to the Lord. CYA brothers and sisters helped out in the relief operations. Some took charge of packaging the goods and clothes, while others distributed them to the different barangays. As a group we also sought the Lord ___ "'::"__ -1 and asked Him, "Why this cup of suffering?" His answer was simple: He ow can I translate into words wanted us to come to Him and make Him the only one who mattered in our uwhatGOd has done forme with the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo? Little as lives. It is only when we are naked, empty and helpless, can we en:ter into I am, the Lord has touched and filled me in these times of darkness, difficul ty life with Him. The Lord also wanted His people and strife. to repent before Him. During the crisis Mt. Pinatubo started to erupt on the Archbishop of Pampanga ordered a June 12; the big blast occurred three 24-hour exposition of the Blessed days later. Both days were meeting Sacramentinall churches in Pampanga. days of CYA-Holy Angel University Many people came to pray and confess G-IAu). Our swimming party and prayer meeting pushed through in spite of . their sins-even some Iglesia ni Cristo menacing ash clouds and the threat of members and born-again Christians! For us in CYA it was a go-signal to worse to come. Soon, electricity was evangelize. We would gather the people, cut off, there was no water and no tell them about Jesus, and pray the rosary means of communication. We could together. not go out for fear of what was happening For CYA-HAU it is simply beyond outside. us how God has taken over our lives. And so the dark night began with CYA came to our school only in April, rains of ash, sand and pumice, but how greatly God has blessed us. earthquakes and thunderclaps. I thought Now I am convinced that God truly I would never see the sun shine again. knows what's best for us. In His love, All through the night I sought solace in God, singing to Him all the songs I God has prepared us for Mt. Pinatubo. What did Mt. Pinatubo do? It knew. And simultaneous with the suspended life in our land, made us darkness outside, something was going develop muscles, destroyed a lot of on inside me--a confidence that we property, businesses and homes, and would make it. decided the fate of Clark Air Base. A Later I learned that while I was great loss, or a blessing in disguise? As comparatively safe in our home, other a people and in our families, we have brothers and sisters (and their families) regained God in our lives. Surely St. had to practically fight for their lives. Paul is right when hewrote: ''We know One brother, Manny, stayed up all night to sweep the sand off their roof lest it that God makes all things work together cave in. Another sister, Tina, had to for the good of those who love God ...." From CYA-HAU to the whole CYA abandon their home which was bellyfamily: Dacal pung salamat. May the high in mud. During the evacuation, love of GJd shine in our lives .• her eight-month baby brother stopped breathing, but he later recovered after a prayer to Jesus. For most of us, the calamity gave us the opportunity to (Editor's Note: The following is a sharing by Billie Bautista, leader of the CY A group at Holy Angel University, Pampanga, scene of the devastating Mt. Pinatubo eruption.)

rnl

Christ"s Youth In Action (CYA) is a Catholic movement of young Filipinos dedicated to evangelizing the youth and training leaders for the service of the Church. We serve colleges, universities, parishes, and renewal groups in Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines. AFFILIATES. University of the Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University. University of Santo Tomas. Far Eastern University. St. Scholastica's College. Miriam College. Don Bosco Technical College. Araneta University. St. Paul's College (Quezon City). ASSOCIATES. Mapua Institute of Technology. Arellano University. University of the East. "Servants of the Lord's Vineyard" (De La Salle University). Trinity College. FEU Tech (Diliman). Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Ateneo Law School. UP Law School. Holy Angel University (Angeles City). st. Paul University (Tuguegarao). ¡CYA-Zamboanga City. San Beda College.CYA-Cagayan de Oro City. CYA-lligan City. ASSISTED GROUPS. "Witnesses of Christ" (Marikina). "Dakilang Pangarap" (Tondo). "Sweet Voice of Salvation" (Iloilo City). St. Louis College (San Fernando, La Union). CYACebu. Catholic Youth Ministry (General Santos City). Notre Dame University (Cotabao City). CYA is a "Partner in Mission" with the following communities and renewal movements: Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon Community. The Light of Jesus Community. Couples For Christ. The Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals. Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon. Tahanan ng Panginoon. Women for Christ. Lumen Christi. All donations to CYA are tax-deductible. Please forward all corresponce to our Office at 300 P. Guevarra St., San Juan Metro Manila. Telephone Number: 708-095.