Celebrating Catholic Filipino Tradition at Saint Michael since 1978.

Saint Michael Filipino Community Brief History

The practice of Catholic Filipino tradition at Saint Michael Parish started with the formation of the Block Rosary Group in 1978.

1978 – Formation of the Filipino Block Rosary Group.

On this year, Father Camilo Villanueva, the first Filipino priest at St. Michael Parish, asked Mrs. Lily Baker to start the Block Rosary Group. It is called Block Rosary because in the Philippines we bring the Blessed Virgin Mary statue to our next-door neighbor in the whole block. In Livermore, most of our neighbors are not Filipinos nor are they Catholic. So the group have to bring the statue to different Filipino family homes by car. Mrs. Baker was accompanied by Mrs. Crisanta Gallardo, Mrs. Lita Cairel, Mrs. Dolly Fermin, and Mrs. Faye Naungayan.

When Sally Buenconsejo joined the parish in 1980, she became the new driver for the group. Mrs. Baker passed away and Mrs. Gallardo took over the group leadership. Arsenia Rivera and Mrs. Fely Ypil also became active in the group.

1988 – Second statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary commissioned to visit more  Filipino families in Livermore.

When Corry Painter started the New Parishioner Potluck Committee in 1988 in the parish, Mrs. Gallardo asked her if she would be interested to help with the Filipino Block Rosary. Mrs. Gallardo bought another statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Corry started taking the Virgin to Filipinos who live in the South Side of Livermore and to new parishioners. Sally and Mrs. Gallardo et al. still took the original Virgin to Filipino homes in the North side of Livermore and Springtown. We took the two Virgins to Filipino homes every May and October. The Virgin stays for one night and then we come and take the Virgin to another house.

October Rosary Month

Every October, the Filipino Community at Saint Michael have their annual Filipino Block Rosary celebration in honor of the Virgin. The celebrations are held at the St. Michael Hall usually on the second Saturday of October. We would recite the Rosary in 5 languages: Spanish, Chamorro, Italian, Tagalog and English. Then the mass is celebrated with a Filipino priest who is invited from all over the Bay Area whomever is available. We usually would end up asking Msgr. Adams or Fr. Poon if we cannot find a Filipino priest. They are quite happy to offer the mass. This was the only time the Filipino community asked for a favor from the church. We give all donations to St. Michael except for some funds the group kept to help pay for the October celebration.

Saint Michael Festival

The Filipino Block Rosary Group also sells lumpia at the annual St. Michael Festival. The members donate the lumpia and also man the booth for the festival. When Mrs. Gallardo became too frail to lead the Block Rosary, Corry Painter and Sally Buenconsejo shared the leadership.

2009 - Simbang Gabi started at Saint Charles Parish.

This year,  a new Filipino Parish Administrator, Father Augusto “Gus” Acob,  was assigned at St. Charles Parish. Corry wasted no time in contacting Fr. Gus. She has always dreamt of having Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo at St. Michael. She used to wake up at 3:00 am to attend the 4;00 am mass in her hometown when she was growing up in the Philippines. Corry asked Fr. Gus and the members of the Filipino Block Rosary Group to a luncheon at her house. She also asked some Livermore Filipino American Organization members who were parishioners at St. Charles (e.g. Elsie and Doming Say and Nuna Evangelista). Together they planned to have the mass at 5:30 am at St. Charles with Fr. Gus officiating. Then the members of the St. Michael Legion of Mary, Patrick and Ellen Brown, Ric and Erleene Echon volunteered to do the music with Ellen strumming her guitar. Two girls, daughter of Rosie, who are members of St. Michael Parish volunteered to be altar servers. Janet Schott, a member of St. Charles and a Eucharistic minister volunteered to help Fr. Gus during Communion.  Corry asked Filipino Block Rosary Group members to be sponsors who will prepare traditional Filipino breakfast, e.g. arroz caldo, champorado, bibingka, puto bumbong, etc. after the mass. Then on December 24 we asked everyone to bring their favorite Filipino food for a potluck. it was fun while it lasted!

Three years after, in 2012 Fr. Gus was reassigned to St. Anne in Union City. Luckily, Fr. Bob Mendonca became the new Pastor at St. Michael. He told Corry he would like to continue the Simbang Gabi at St. Michael. Corry asked Fr. Bob who will be officiating at 5:30 a.m. He  said he will do it. So Fr. Bob officiated the mass for 7 days and Fr. Gus drove from Union City to say the mass for two days. This went on until Fr. Bob moved to St. Raymond in Dublin and Fr. Van Dinh became the new Pastor at St. Michael. Fr. Van was very supportive of the Simbang Gabi but told Corry he could only wake up at 5:30 am twice. Corry needs to find another priest for the other 7 days. Fr. Gus signed up for two days and Fr. Bob for two days. Fr. Jun Manalo did one day drive from St. Joseph in Fremont and Fr. Rafael of St. Michael did the other two.

This went on for two more years until we finally got a Filipino Pastor Fr. Carl Arcosa in 2018.Now we have a Filipino priest for every day of the 9-day Simbang Gabi novena. Sometimes we have 3 or 4 Filipino priests in attendance. We are so blessed and should be thankful that now we no longer have to look for priests to say the mass at 5:30 am.

2018 – Saint Michael Filipino Community officially formed in the parish.

At the behest of our parish’s new pastor, a Filipino priest, Father Carl Arcosa summoned some of the Filipino parishioners who are already active in various ministries at Saint Michael and also are active members of the Filipino Block Rosary Group, to form the first set of leaders for the new Community at Saint Michael to promote the Simbang Gabi novena masses in December, as well as made the Filipino masses in Tagalog now a regular monthly occurrence.

Since then, the St. Michael Filipino Community (SMFC) has been leading the Simbang Gabi Celebration, even during the pandemic, and has been very successful in terms of attendance and donation. It was truly a community effort with the support of other Filipino student/resident priests whom Father Carl was able to provide temporary residence and support through the parish and community for the duration of their studies. In return, the priests helped make the parish a more vibrant one, as they provide support in having more sacraments available for the parish, as well provide spiritual guidance and support to various ministries specially the SMFC and Legion of Mary where a lot of our community are part/members of.

Since 2018, various Filipino student and visiting priests have come to our parish. Gone Fathers Bento Tamang, Nathaniel Gentizon, Peter John Guarin, were among those who made lasting memories and friendships with members of our community who already left us serving other parishes here in the US or back in the Philippines.

Currently, in addition to our pastor, Father Carl Arcosa, our parochial vicar, Father Rafael Chavez, Deacons Eric Simontis and Dave Rezendes, we also have resident / visiting priests Father Ryan Dellota, Father Theo Villariza, and our newest student priest, Father Greg Porras serving our parish as part of the clergy.