LXXXVIII. Please Help Saint Veronica's Sunday School

An invitation to help the boys and girls of

SAINT VERONICA’S SUNDAY SCHOOL
#110 Barangay Santo Niño, Malolos, Bulacan
A Non-Profit Charitable Foundation (registration in process)

From just thirteen children in July 2008, this pioneering Sunday School in the old cathedral town (now city) of Malolos now numbers well over 50 regular attendees, all public elementary school pupils from very poor families in and around the city.

Each Sunday afternoon, a small team of volunteer adult catechists provides these boys and girls basic Roman Catholic religious instruction not usually available in their public school -- standard daily prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Rosary, regular attendance at Mass (at the scheduled 7 pm Sunday Mass in the Chapel in neighboring Barangay Santo Rosario, near where most of the pupils live), and preparation to receive the sacraments of Confession, Communion, and Confirmation.

There are no fees of any sort, and no formal enrolment process – kids simply show up at the School after hearing about it from their classmates, friends, or playmates. The religious instruction takes place in a small converted “prayer room” (a disused kamalig [rice granary]) in the yard of the School’s founder and main catechist-volunteer.

Organized participation in religious processions at the Cathedral has also been part of this Sunday School’s program for its pupils.  While walking in scheduled church processions over the past year or so, the children get to put into practice their lessons in praying the Rosary, which they are able to do with diligence and discipline that are perhaps uncommon for their age.

In their most recent processional participation this past Sunday, September 6^th (to commemorate the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8^th), the Sunday School’s pupils even brought out shoulder-borne processional floats with small Marian images mounted on them.

Having accomplished their devotional responsibilities for the evening, the children partake of a simple meal in the yard in front of their “prayer room.”

Because these children are so poor, it is obviously insufficient for the School to address only their spiritual needs without attending to their more pressing temporal ones.  To help address incipient malnutrition (or simply to partly fill the empty stomachs of poor young children), a hot meal or snack (usually a thick soup or noodles) is shared with them right after the regular Sunday afternoon catechism and before they proceed to evening Sunday Mass.

This past June, the School received a donation of basic school supplies that it was able to give to its pupils in time for the opening of the new school year.  From time to time, it also receives small cash donations from friends and neighbors that it is able to distribute to the children to augment their meager Monday to Friday school allowance.

Because of its increasing “enrolment,” the School is in need of additional support to continue to provide for its pupils’ material needs.  Would you care to help these children?

To arrange to make an appropriate donation to the children of the School, of any amount, in cash or in kind, please contact Mrs. Gloria Regala at #110, Barangay Santo Niño, Malolos, Bulacan, or via voice or SMS to (within the Philippines) 0926 709 3879 or (from outside the Philippines) +63 926 709 3879.

Thank you very much in advance.

Originally published on 8 September 2009.  All text and photos copyright ©2009 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

adlailara wrote on Sep 9, '09 I will help, Kuya Leo.

rally65 wrote on Sep 9, '09 adlailara said I will help, Kuya Leo. Thank you very much, Kuya Adlai!

arcastro57 wrote on Sep 9, '09 Consider it done...

adlailara wrote on Sep 9, '09, edited on Sep 9, '09 You're welcome. I would like to invite you to the Marian Exhibit to be held at SM Sucat. Take care and God bless....

rally65 wrote on Sep 9, '09 arcastro57 said Consider it done... Thanks very much, (Kuya also) Alex.