The Filipino Ministry had a quiet start

when a group of Filipino Catholics started

the Block Rosary communal prayer

practice, whereby a statue of the Blessed

Virgin Mary was brought to different

homes to stay for a week. Devotion was

shown via the recitation of the Holy

Rosary around the Blessed Virgin’s statue.

This soon grew in popularity so much so

that devotees from other non-Filipino

communities joined in. Occasionally, a family would request that the statue of the

Blessed Mother stay with them for two

to three weeks!

In December 2004, Fr. Vic Panaligan and

Fr. Felicito Baybay, two Filipino priests

from the St. Jude and Immaculate Heart

parishes respectively, started the

Simbang Gabi, a traditional Filipino

Blessed Trinity’s

Filipino

Ministry

by Dr. Emilia Pacariem

practice of a series of dawn

masses for the nine days

leading up to Christmas Day.

In this case, they held the

masses in four different

parishes in Marion County

with the last mass being

celebrated at Blessed Trinity

Church. Out of the nine days

of Holy Masses, one is

designated as a celebration for all the Filipino Ministries in the Diocese of Orlando

with Bishop John Noonan as the main celebrant.

In 2009, when Fr. Roy Eco was assigned as Parochial Vicar at Blessed Trinity, he

introduced another devotion which is very dear to the Filipino Catholics, the First

Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To this day, this devotion continues

with other ministries joining. After the 6:30 P.M. Mass, a fellowship gathering

follows at the Parish Hall. Even after Fr. Roy was transferred to Blessed Sacrament

Parish in Clermont, he still made time to drive to

Ocala every first Friday to celebrate the Holy

Mass with us!

Bishop Noonan, Simbang Gabi 2017