Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 17 | Page 17

September 1 - 15, 2018 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 17 Fluent in Tagalog, English, Mandarin and Fookien Dialect We Accept Most Dental Plans Monday-Saturday Convenient Private and Public Parking RICHMOND DENTAL BUILDING Suite 100 - 6480 Buswell Street Richmond, B.C. V6Y 2E9 Dr. Florence C. Uy Family Dentist Watch CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT 604-278-9877 PNC (Philippine News Canada / Balitang Vancouver) MONDAYS 8pm AT SHAW CHANNEL 4 pinoytvcanada.com 30-Couples Tie Knot at Mass Wedding by Mike Lipa A mass wedding officiated by Archbishop Michael Miller was celebrated at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Surrey last August 25, 2018. This is part of the annual project of the Filipino Ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. Thirty couples tied the knot in front of a festive atmosphere of families and friends to receive the sacrament of matrimony. This is the second year in a row that such an event was organized by the Filipino Catholic Ministry head Deacon Greg Barcelon. Helping him were coordinators Jimmy and Liza Arzadon. The wedding was also supported by the Couples for Christ – OLGC Chapter. The stories of the group are quite diversified. From young lovers starting with their lives to more matured partners that already have grandchildren. One of the couples that tied the knot is Roger and Jeanelyn Quiestas who are both registered parishioners in Our Lady of Good Counsel. They have been civilly married for 16 years. It was in Dubai where they had their civil marriage and have lived together since then. During their relationship, they were blessed to have two kids aged 15 and 11. According to Roger, they have always wanted to get married in the church ever since they were both still working in Dubai. However, the amount of time needed for preparations needed to get married back in the Philippines did not afford them this luxury as they usually only had a vacation period of 22 days. The couple wanted to set an example for their kids so that in the future, they can also prepare for their marriage. What the Filipino Ministry was able to accomplish gracefully is remove all the non-essentials from the couple’s to-do list that used to make a church marriage a challenge. The ministry, through the help of volunteers have taken up the challenge of decorating the lovely venue, organizing the marriage preparations, having onsite ushers and photographers that made the ceremony more about God and less about the unimportant things. The whole process is focused towards re-discovering why the person in front of you is the person you wish to spend your life with and less about everything else. For information about future Mass Wedding for civilly-married couples you may send an email to: [email protected] for more details. WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM