DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
              P R E S S  S T A T E M E N T

                                           2330 Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, Philippines                              

 
SFA-AGR-016-08                                                                                                                                                 

AMBASSADOR BRILLANTES LEADS FILIPINO-CANADIAN COMMUNITY IN MULTICULTURAL MASS

Text Box: His Grace Terrence Prendergast and Ambassador Jose Brillantes with, from left, Consul Rhenita  Rodriguez, Minister and Consul General Joseph Gerard Angeles, Consul Eloy Luis Bello, Philippine Centre Canada Chairperson Sonia Del Rosario, Ms. Maura David, Mrs. Myrna Rosales and Mr. Alvar Rosales, the Embassy’s Finance Officer (partly hidden).   

 

 

15 January 2008 – Philippine Ambassador to Canada Jose S. Brillantes led the Filipino community in Ottawa as it joined some fifty (50) other cultural communities from across Canada’s capital region at the annual Homelands Gathering (Celebration Multiculturelle) on Sunday, 13 January 2008, 2:30 p.m., at Basilica Notre Dame in Ottawa.

This year’s Homelands Gathering was made special by the fact that it was His Grace Terrence Prendergast’s, first Homelands Gathering as Archbishop of Ottawa. Pope Benedict XVI announced the appointment of Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, S.J. to the position of Archbishop of Ottawa in May 2007. His Grace replaced the retiring Archbishop Marcel Gervais.

As Archbishop Prendergast welcomed representatives of various nations to the reception following the Mass, he spoke kind words about the Filipino community in Canada. His Grace told Ambassador Brillantes, “Filipinos are a wonderful people. They are actively involved in all areas of the diocese.” The ambassador conveyed special greetings from the Filipino community to Archbishop Prendergast and thanked him for his special warm welcome for the Filipino community.

Decked in their respective national attires, participants joined a procession of all communities present with their national flags and platters of food native to their home countries. Carrying the Philippine flag, Ambassador Brillantes joined other dignitaries who also carried their respective flags at the sanctuary during the celebration of the Mass. Consul General Joseph Gerard B. Angeles, Consul Eloy Luis B. Bello, Consul Rhenita B. Rodriguez and Finance Officer Alvar E. Rosales, with Filipino community leaders in Ottawa led by Philippine Centre Canada Chairperson Sonia Del Rosario, represented the Filipino community in the processional.

Aimed at helping build a strong faith community, the Annual Homelands Mass is a celebration of the gathering of all nations as one people in Canada. Yearly, the occasion gathers the various communities that comprise the Catholic Church in Ottawa as it recognizes the numerous contributions of the different cultural communities who have come to Canada from foreign lands and celebrates the diversity in the cultural landscape of Canada due to the influx of immigrants and refugees. END

 
 

/wingret

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